A Strange Familiarity
by itsLisey
Summary: Jane and Maura fight to understand their feelings for each other while Jane works a missing child's case, which holds surprises for both of the women. Eventual Rizzles.
1. Chapter 1

Already past five o'clock, the relentless August sun seemed to bestow no reprieve on its Boston friends. Those trotting around the soon-to-be-closed Franklin Zoo wiped at their brow and wrangled in their children. Some were easier than others – many of the children were passed out in wagons or strollers, but there were some (the kind that had just a bit too much sugar) that were still on their rush of excitement. Tired parents called after them, their patience reaching a low boil.

Among the crowd was Aiden Barker. His seven year old daughter Caidence tugged eagerly at his arm, dragging him along at her own pace with her friend Ashleigh jogging to keep up. Her eye was set on a stand of frozen lemonade. She looked up and smiled at her father, her thin face stretching out into a smile to reveal two dimples on each of her cheeks.

"Can we get some?"

Aiden looked at his watch and then to the ever growing line of people. "And ruin your dinner for your mother?" he asked, then his frown turned into a cheeky smile. "Gladly. Pink lemonade or regular?"

"If one of us gets pink lemonade and one of us gets regular, we get both." Caidence said wisely to Ashleigh. Ashleigh nodded, her own smiling mirroring Caidence's. Aiden laughed and shook his head a bit.

"Both it is."

A stand of toys caught both girls' eyes. Aiden watched them walk towards the stand, it only being a few feet over from where he stood himself, waiting for their lemonade. He tapped his foot in impatience. He was supposed to have Caidence back to her mother by six. Finally the line progressed and he stepped forward to pay, pulling back only a minute later juggling his own lemonade as well as the girls.

"Here, girls – " But Aiden stopped dead in his track. Instead of seeing the back of Caidence's thin blonde waves next to Ashleigh's dark, almost black, pin straight hair, he saw only Ashleigh. He looked to the left of her and to the right, but nowhere did he see his daughter. His heart pounding against his chest, Aiden grabbed Ashleigh and spun the surprised girl around, his face contorted in only a way that a terrified parent's face could. "Where did Caidence go?" he demanded. Ashleigh did just as he had; she looked to her left and to her right, then turned back to her friend's father in surprise.

"She was just here... just'a second ago, I promise."

"Caidence!' he screamed, ripping through the crowds. "Caidence!"

But Caidence was already gone.

* * *

"It was so nice of Frankie to offer to finish your paperwork for you guys," said Maura as she hung her jacket on the coat rack. Korsak, Frost and Jane followed her example, eyeing each other humorously. Frankie hadn't necessarily offered so much as Jane played the _if you want to be a detective... _card. But Jane kept her mouth shut, knowing Maura wouldn't appreciate her taking advantage of Frankie, especially on Maura's birthday. The four walked into the living room, lured by the smell of garlic.

Angela was in the kitchen already cooking, not to the surprise of anyone else.

"You didn't have to cook, Angela." Maura said sweetly, gazing over the kitchen counter where a variety of ingredients were spread out. Angela clucked her tongue and waved them all away.

"Nonsense, you're _family_." Maura couldn't help but smile at the word. "Dinner'll be done in a half hour. Janie, why don't we let Maura open her presents while we wait?" This surprised Maura and she went to protest, surely to say that there was nothing she needed, but Angela gave her a stern motherly look and Maura pressed her lips back together firmly. Jane saw it all and smiled to herself. It felt good to see that she wasn't the only person, besides Frankie and Tommy, that Angela could frighten into shutting up.

Jane grabbed the first present, something flat and square and wrapped in the shiniest purple wrapping paper any of them had ever seen. "This one is from Ma." she set it on Maura's lap and sat back down. "Obviously." Jane added as an afterthought, which earned her a scowl and nudge from her mother.

In the same precise manner that Maura did everything in her life, she slowly unwrapped the present, taking great consideration into pulling the tape from each corner, so gently that it didn't rip the paper itself. She finished one side and flipped the gift to begin on the other.

"Maura," said Jane slowly as she watched Maura. "It's not a bomb. You don't have to figure out which wire to cut. Just rip the paper open."

Maura frowned and looked up at Jane. "That would be rude. Your mother went to a great deal of effort to wrap this for me, and the paper is very beautiful. I wouldn't want to ruin it."

"Okay, well. I give you full permission to rip my present apart because I... wrapped it with newspaper." Angela gave a soft gasp and glared at her daughter. "_What? _I didn't have time to go to the store! We've been working on the Heurtos case!" Jane turned back to Maura. "Just open Ma's present, would you?"

Conceding to Jane's wishes, Maura finally pulled the last piece of tape off the package and slid the present out in a way that the wrapping paper kept its form. It took everything in Jane to hide her eye roll, but nothing could stop the sharp intake of breath when Maura finally revealed what Angela had gotten her.

"Oh! Oh. Angela, it's... lovely." It was anything but. In Maura's hands was the largest, most grotesque piece of artwork that Jane had surely ever seen, and since becoming friends with Maura, she had seen a lot of ridiculously hideous art. Jane wasn't entirely sure what it was meant to be. The first word that came to her mind was vomit – lots and lots of vomit. The colors did anything but complement each other; dark, putrid green, a slimy, salmon pink and faded yellow swirled together in what looked like a cloud of hideous color. There was absolutely nothing artistic to it whatsoever, but Angela stood behind Maura looking all too pleased with herself. "Is it one of yours?"

"I call it _A Swirl of Springtime._" said Angela proudly. "I thought these colors just screamed springtime, you know? The green of the grass, the bright yellow sun, pink for easter. Janie told me spring is your favorite season."

"It probably isn't anymore," muttered Jane under her breath, only loud enough for she and Maura to hear.

Maura covered her laugh up with a cough and she smiled up at Angela. 'It's wonderful, really. I'll be sure to find a nice home for it."

"Yeah in the garbage." Jane said quietly, but this time it earned her a sharp kick of the leg by Maura. "Here, Maura. Open mine." Jane handed Maura a small box that, sure enough, was wrapped in Sunday's newspaper.

"Oh Jane, you shouldn't have. You know how much I love current events."

"You're hilarious. Open the box."

Laughing quietly to herself, Maura unwrapped the box – this time with a bit more enthusiasm to appease Jane – and slid the top of it open. Jane grinned all the while, waiting eagerly. The reaction was even better than Jane had hoped for. Maura, stammering, turned to look at Jane and then back down to the box, repeating this several times before finally she slammed her mouth shut and shook her head.

"But _how?" _she demanded to know.

"Being a detective has its perks." Jane responded cooly.

Maura turned to look at Jane seriously. "Jane, this show has been sold out for weeks."

"The department gets tickets to everything. We have a whole filing cabinet of crap. Normally they're used to compensate certain situations, but I put in a word with the guy down there and he owed me anyway,"

"These are – _Jane," _Maura looked back down at the tickets she held in her hands. "These are _excellent _seats. Oh, _Jane._" It took Jane off guard, but Maura's arms were wrapped around her before she even knew what was happening. It was almost childlike glee, with Maura's arms wrapped firmly around her middle and squeezing. Then she lightened her grip, but the remained linked together, and slowly it was Jane who pulled away first, a bit sadly.

"So you like?"

"Do I _like? _Jane, I've been wanting to see _Wicked _for years! My mother got tickets to a show a few years ago. We were going to go together but she had a client that she needed to take instead, at the last moment. It was disappointing. You're coming with me, right?"

Jane nodded. "I promised I would let you take me to a show, so here's your chance."

"This is wonderful!" squealed Maura. "I – " She paused to allow Jane to answer her ringing phone, and when Jane finally hung up, she cast Maura a sad look. "There's been a murder?"

"Cavanaugh wants to see us. Frost, Korsak and I. Not you, you're fine."

"Oh but dinner will be done soon." said Angela.

"How about you finish dinner up and put it in the fridge, and you and Maura go out? We'll have a family dinner tomorrow night."

Angela looked to Maura. "How about it?"

"That sounds wonderful."

* * *

"So explain to me again why we're on this case?" asked Frost as he and Jane exited her car. Jane pulled on a pair of crime scene gloves and flashed her badge to two detectives at the front gate. A crowd had gathered just inside where several detectives were looking through buggies, strollers and wagons. She eyed them carefully – a missing child was not to be taken lightly, but she had been to the zoo before. There were more exits than she'd ever even walked through, and the chance of the child still being in the park was very slim. Even more, the chance of these beat cops recognizing the sign of a suspicious suspect was even slimmer. Most of them looked like straight from the Academy rookies.

"Cavanaugh said it was a favor to an old friend. Knows the kid's dad's dad. I don't know. But I sure as hell didn't go into homicide to do missing children's cases. They're depressing."

"And homicide isn't?"

"At least you already know your victim is dead." said Jane grimly. "With a missing kid? You don't know what you're gonna find. That's gotta be the dad." she pointed straight ahead to where Aiden Barker was standing, one hand clamped over his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut. Korsak had already been briefed by Cavanaugh over the phone and had headed straight to the scene. Jane and Frost had orders to stop at the station beforehand. Korsak stood talking to Aiden, his gaze shifting immediately to his two coworkers as they approached.

Jane held out her hand. "Detective Jane Rizzoli. This is my partner, Detective Barry Frost."

"I would say pleased to meet you, but I'm not." replied Aiden thickly, ignoring Jane's outstretched hand. "We need to find my daughter."

"We'll find her. Can you tell me what happened here?"

He took a deep breath. "I turned away. For _one second, _I turned away. I was just getting them some lemonade. I just – " Taking a moment to gather himself, he turned away then came back, his eyes brimmed with tears that had not yet fallen. "When I went to bring them back their treats, Caidence wasn't there."

"Them. Who is them?"

"Caidence and her friend, Ashleigh."

"Is Ashleigh still here or have her guardians come to pick her up?"

"She's right there." Aiden pointed to where the dark haired girl had perched herself on the sitting edge of a fountain. A patrol officer was next to her. Three cartons of unopened frozen lemonade were melting at her feet on the cement. "She said Caidence was right next to her the whole time, that she had just been talking to her. How is that possible, detective? How could my daughter go missing so fast?"

Jane edged over to Frost, dropping her voice a few levels. "Why don't you go get a statement from the kid? I'll – " She couldn't finish her sentence. The crowd waiting to be searched parted and a woman, her cheeks red either from the heat or from whatever she was feeling or possibly from both, came flying through, tearing her way and making a beeline directly for Aiden Barker. She flung herself at him, her balled up fists wracking havoc on his shoulder. Their brash and throaty yells mixed together in an unrecognizable language. Jane grabbed the woman's arms and yanked her back, Korsak doing his part with Aiden.

"_Hey!"_ screamed Jane. "Who the hell are you?"

It took a moment for the woman to compose herself, during which time fresh, angry tears sprung from the corners of her eyes. A man, who had gotten stuck wrestling through the crowd, appeared behind her, his hands reaching to squeeze her shoulders.

"I'm Caidence's mother. I'm sorry, I – " She wouldn't look at Aiden. Her words caught in her throat and she bowed her head. "How could you lose her? Why weren't you watching her?"

Aiden seethed, "Lose her? I looked away for a _second. _You don't think I'm torn up over this? You don't think – "

"Okay, okay. Ms. Barker, how about we – "

"Ford." said the woman abruptly. "Aiden and I were never married. I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. Caitlyn Ford. This is my husband," she pointed to the man standing behind her. "Charles."

"My name is Detective Jane Rizzoli and I've been assigned to your daughter's case. Has this ever happened before? Has your daughter ever run off by herself?"

Caitlyn shook her head. "No, no. Nothing like that. Caidence has always been independent but she knows not to run off like that."

"Could your daughter have saw someone that she knew and taken off to go talk to them, perhaps having left with them?"

"_No. _She would never do that, she would never – " Seeing that Caitlyn was getting worked up again, Jane placed a gentle hand on Caitlyn's wrist to stop her.

"I just had to ask. We're doing everything to find your daughter, Mrs. Ford. I promise. We have officers canvassing the entire zoo and all the exits have been blocked off. Nobody is leaving this zoo unsearched."

"And if she already left the zoo? What do we do if my daughter is already miles away from me?"

This was always the hard part for Jane. Whether her victim was dead or alive, looking into their loved one's eyes and trying to answer questions that she didn't have the answers to... it tore her apart. It is the definition of a gut wrenching moment – you can't lie when there is so much uncertainty dwelling between the question and answer, and you can't tell the truth for the same reason. So what do you say? Tell them to have hope? To pray? To put their faith in Jane, in her fellow officers? To believe in the system that already had failed to protect their beloved?

Jane fought to bring the words to her lips, but she was captivated by Caitlyn in a new way entirely. When Jane looked in Caitlyn's eyes, she saw a reflection of inexplicable familiarity. Aside from the pain and anguish that plagued her, Jane knew that these eyes would and could never leave her. She had seen their pain before. Felt their pain before. Longed to ease their pain before. Something about Caitlyn Ford struck Jane in the oddest, most peculiar way.

Shaking her thoughts from her head, Jane swallowed the curiosity creeping up her throat and answered Caitlyn as best she could: "I'll do my best to find her."

* * *

**Hello again, everyone!**

**So here we are again. I'd just like to take a moment and say something, if you would give me a few more moments of your time.**

**This story will be taking a few liberties with season three. It's not so much that I'm doing a complete rewrite, but what I include and what I completely, utterly ignore will be easily spotted. **

**For now, let's just pretend that season three has not happened at all. I think that's the best plan.**

**This story _will _have a very large focus on the investigation, but there will also be a focus on our leading loves and their love for each other, so don't worry. **

**Anyway, I do hope you'll join me for this story as many of you did for Battle, and I look forward to hearing from you again!**

**Review and let me know what you think. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Jane, Frost and Korsak divided up tasks and set to work. While Korsak remained at the scene collecting security footage, Jane and Frost accompanied Caitlyn and Charles back to their house. Cars lined the street as Jane pulled up. She wondered fleetingly if this was all moving too fast – if the kidnapper _did _call for ransom, the likelihood of he or she being pleased with an influx of officers already searching for them would probably not go over as well as anyone would hope. She pulled the car up to the curb, a few houses down from where she needed to be, and stepped out of the car with Frost.

The ride had been fairly quiet. Jane knew she wasn't the only one whose thoughts were clouded with the image of Caidence's face; nobody liked a kid case.

"What'd the little girl say?" asked Jane as they stepped up from the curb and began walking towards the house.

"Nothin' really. Said that her and Caidence were looking at the stuffed animals and the next thing she knew, the dad was freaking out. She's pretty shook up."

"Poor kid."

They let themselves inside and looked around. A few officers were huddled together looking as though they were setting something up. Jane bypassed them and went straight to Caitlyn, who was sitting on the couch looking much less fierce and a lot more sad than she was at the zoo.

"Could we go someplace more private and talk?" Jane notices for the first time that in Caitlyn's hands, she was clutching several photos of Caidence.

"Of course. I..." she holds up the photos. "I thought, maybe, a few more photos would help."

"Everything helps." Jane said as they made their way into another room, Charles following them close behind. They all settled in the kitchen. "Have there been any problems at home recently?" she asked. "Or anybody hanging around when they don't usually? Anything new in the daily routine?"

Charles shook his head. "Caitlyn went back to work, but other than that, no."

"What do you do?"

Caitlyn pulled a tissue away from her face. Her voice sounded so broken as she spoke, hoarse and strained. "I'm an elementary school teacher. 3rd grade. I took time off after we had our daughter, Kennedy."

"We didn't need two incomes, but Caitlyn missed work." said Charles. "You went to work about, what, three months ago, honey? Kennedy is one and a half now. But I don't see how that could have anything to do with Caidence."

"New people, new situations. Even the little things help, Mr. Ford. I know my questions may not seem to be important, but we have no idea who could have taken Caidence at this point. It could have been random, it could have been planned. Knowing the people in your life is going to help us determine if this is a case where she was taken by someone she knows." Caitlyn let out a little sob, but bit down on the kleenex to stop herself from crying.

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude." said Charles.

"Don't apologize, really." insisted Jane. "I just want you both to know that I will do everything in my power to bring your little girl home. Now, how long have you two been married?"

"Two years. We, uh," Charles looked down at his wife and smiled. "It happened so fast. We married six months after meeting."

Jane's mouth dropped. She wasn't sure if that was suspicious or just insane. "Wow." she finally said. "That's very quick."

Caitlyn laughed a little and nudged her husband's gut with her elbow. "He's leaving out the part where we knew each other in grade school. He just likes pretending it was love at first sight." she teased.

"And it was. You looked awfully cute on the playground with that bright blonde hair tied into two pigtails, Cindy Brady." Charles looked down at the photos of Caidence sitting on the counter between them and Jane. "I knew she was your daughter before I even saw you that day we met again." he muttered, reaching down to pick up a photo of Caidence on her bicycle. "She's you, 100%."

"She's beautiful." said Jane, taking a look at the photograph herself. Caidence had thin curls that fell past her shoulders. Like her mother, her skin was smooth and lightly tanned. And those eyes – the very eyes that had struck Jane in such an odd way before, when she looked at Caitlyn – were staring back at her through Caidence as well. "She has your eyes." mumbled Jane, pulling herself away from the photo. "So, you've been married for two years. How often does she see her father Aiden?"

"He lives in Michigan. He comes every few weekends."

"And you never married?"

"No, I..." Caitlyn took a breath. "We had Caidence when we were twenty. I had barely just graduated school. Aiden and I moved to Michigan, to be closer to his family. He proposed – you know, I mean, I was the mother of his child. He wanted to marry me, but I just didn't want to marry him."

"And you have full custody of Caidence?"

"Yes. I brought her back here to Boston with me. Aiden really didn't have the money to be a father. Emotionally he was wonderful, but I was better off in taking care of Caidence. We both agreed. I met Charlie a few years later and here we are, a family of five now."

"I thought you said you only had a little girl together?"

"We – "

The kitchen door swung open and a little boy entered. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine, Jane reasoned, but his face was hardened in irritation and he immediately sought out Charles. Shaggy brown hair fell in front of his chocolate brown eyes and beige freckles dotted his still chubby cheeks.

"I want to go to the park." he demanded, staring directly up at Charles.

"Detectives, this is our son, Brayden."

"_Your _son." corrected Brayden.

"Brayden, now is not the time to – "

Brayden cut him off. "I want to go to the park."

"Your sister is missing, Brayden! I'm not taking you to the park!"

"She's not my sister. She's _her _daughter." Jane couldn't ignore the scathing tone to his voice. He didn't even look at Caitlyn as he spoke, preferring only to look up into his father's increasingly angry eyes. "I want to go to the park. She's not your kid, I'm your kid."

"Brayden, honey, we can – " began Caitlyn, but Brayden cut her off.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Don't you dare talk to your – "

"Step-mother." finished Brayden. "I want to go to the park."

"God dammit, Brayden. Go to your room!" yelled Charles. Brayden stayed rooted to the spot. He looked around the room coldly, eyes lingering briefly on Jane. "Brayden, I am giving you until the count of three. If you are not in your room, you will be grounded for a month. 1. 2." On the count of two, Brayden swung around and stomped out, his mumblings muffled by the swing of the kitchen door. Charles turned around to face Jane again. In just a few moments, he looked older than he did before. "I'm so sorry, detective Rizzoli."

"Tell me about your son."

* * *

A handful of bags sat at Angela and Maura's feet as they indulged themselves in their dinner. Around them the evening crowd of shoppers was thinning, but their fellow diners on the outdoor patio seemed to be consistently filing in. It was nearing six thirty and, after Jane and Frost had left for their meeting with Cavanaugh, Angela and Maura packed up the completed dinner and grabbed their purses, opting to go downtown for some shopping and dinner like Jane had suggested.

The oddity of the situation never ceased to make Maura's head spin. She felt completely at ease with Angela and she always had. Her people phobia had faded as she grew older (though not without a little work), but Maura couldn't help but admit to herself that she had always struggled when it came to connecting with older women, particularly those who were friends of her mother's, or Maura's acquaintances mothers (as she never really had friends). The topic of mothers in general gave Maura's stomach a twist, but Angela was a different story entirely. She had taken Maura on as a daughter and Maura had willingly slipped into the role, even without trying.

"Thank you for joining me tonight, Angela." said Maura as she twirled a string of pasta on her fork.

"I'm just sorry that you didn't get the family dinner."

"Oh that's quite alright. Work has to come first."

"Why didn't Jane need you?"

Maura sighed. Jane had called her briefly to give her a heads up about the situation – a missing child, no body, _thank God. _And even though she and Jane had only been on the phone, Maura heard it; the twist in Jane's voice, the twinge of grief, of fear – fear that the little girl wouldn't be found alive, that Jane wouldn't be able to do her job. "There wasn't a body. It's a missing persons investigation that Cavanaugh wanted his team on." replied Maura. "A little girl."

"_Oh, _that's so horrible. There are just awful people in this world. Who'd take a lil' girl like that? What kinda sick person..."

"I can only hope that I won't be performing an autopsy on this case."

Angela paused to chew and then set her fork down beside her plate. "How d'ya do it, Maura?"

"Pardon?"

"Your job. I mean, he... she... whoever's on your table. They were real. They had a family. How do you separate yourself from that?"

After setting her own fork down, Maura wrung the napkin in lap with nervous fingers. She had gotten this question plenty of times before. From strangers, from dates, from acquaintances. It was never a particularly fun question to answer, because it did indeed remind Maura of something that she tried very hard to separate herself from – that the world was very cruel, dark and brutal, and that she, Maura, had a hand in combatting that evil, but that the battle would never be won.

Angela had never asked before, though. Maura thought she saw the question struggling to come out on several occasions, but maybe the will to hold back had been stronger when it wasn't about a child. Now the question seemed even harder to answer than ever before. Not even Constance had ever asked Maura about her job, how she did it, how she continued breathing every day knowing that a body, likely brutally murdered, was waiting for her at work.

Seeming to sense Maura's hesitation, Angela changed the subject. "You know, I lost Jane in a store once."

"You did?"

"Well, more like Jane lost me." she laughed lightly, taking a sip of her drink before continuing on with her story. "She ran off from me and her brothers. Store was packed, I panicked. Turned out she was just hidin' in a coat rack, ready to pounce and scare Frankie and Tommy. Don't tell Tommy I told you this, but he wet his pants." Maura, in an attempt to control her laughter, snapped her mouth shut firmly, and only a tiny squeak escaped. "'Course he was only six or seven at the time, but I think he's still traumatized."

"That sounds exactly like Jane."

"Could'a killed 'er. Never been so scared in my life, Maura, and she was only gone a couple of minutes. I can't imagine what that family is going through." Angela's attention was caught by whoever was siting behind Maura. She tilted her head a little bit and nudged Maura's hand, dropping her voice down low to a whisper. "Isn't that Casey? Turn around, look."

And sure enough, as soon as Maura turned around, she spotted him: Casey, Jane's on again, off again – well, Maura wasn't sure what it was – who was supposed to be in Afghanistan. He seemed to notice Maura at the same time that she noticed him, but his body language didn't tell Maura that he was all too pleased at being spotted. His shoulders tensed and his fist balled up the napkin that he had been reaching for when he and Maura locked eyes. The man across from him seemed to notice the change as well and turned to see what had disrupted his dinner partner, only to come eye to eye with Maura and Angela as well.

"Hello," the man said to Maura with a friendly smile. He twisted his body so that he could give her his hand. "Judging by the staring contest you two are having, I take it you know my brother?"

"Brother?"

"Kevin, Casey's much more attractive little brother."

Not wanting to be rude, Maura smiled and shook his hand, but she couldn't help but continue to glance over at Casey. He seemed to be more uncomfortable by the second. "Maura Isles."

"Very nice to meet you, Maura. And how do you know my big brother over here?"

Maura bit her lip, unsure of how to answer. "Friend of a friend. Jane Rizzoli."

"Janie! Wait, Mrs. Rizzoli?" he craned his head to get a better look at the women sitting behind Maura, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet throughout the awkward exchange. "Ah, ha!" he stood and walked over. "Y'know, you probably don't remember me, but I remember you had the best lemon cookies. Casey used to bring them home from bake sales and tell me you made them. I used to tag along with Casey sometimes when he'd go to the park with Jane. I was in middle school then."

"Of course I remember you. Scrawny little kid with the mouth."

"That's me." chuckled Kevin.

Unable to resist acknowledging Casey any longer, Maura turned and looked him directly in the eye. 'So how have you been, Casey?" But his eyes were drawn away from hers and to his right, where for the first time Maura noticed a pair of lofstrand crutches leaning up against the table. Whatever his response was, Maura didn't catch it, whether it be from his gruff, muffled words stringing themselves together or her attempt at composing her surprise. When she found his eyes again, there was no hiding his own shame.

"Ignore my brother's rudeness," Kevin said with a twinge of humor in his voice. "He's just bitter because I chose the restaurant tonight."

"How long have you been back?" asked Maura, speaking directly to Casey and ignoring Kevin.

He shrugged. "Few months." His voice was cold, vacant of any kind of emotion that Maura could pinpoint. Just as she went to respond, her phone rang and pulled her away from the conversation. Which, she thought, might have been a good thing, as any other questions she might have wanted to ask Casey could have been taken the wrong way. She eyed him warily as she answered Jane's call, praying silently to herself that Jane didn't ask her how the evening with Angela was going.

Lucky enough Jane was too preoccupied with the case to likely even remember where Maura was or who Maura was with, and the call ended without any mishap. Maura turned back to Angela and smiled apologetically.

"Jane wants me to meet her at the prescient. She wants another pair of eyes."

"There haven't found – "

"No," assured Maura. "All Jane wants is someone to begin assisting Korsak while she and Frost help set up a base at the child's home." She stood and smooth out her dress, taking a moment to throw a few bills down on the table for the tip. Kevin and Angela spoke back and forth to one another while they waited for take out boxes, but Maura and Casey remained silent, preferring only to stare at each other when the other wasn't looking. Finally Angela and Maura had packed their food and began making their way to the front to pay.

They had gotten half way there when Maura heard her name behind her. She turned and saw Casey struggling to catch up with her, clearly not having gotten used to his crutches completely yet. Maura hesitated. She didn't necessarily want to talk to Casey with Angela standing right there.

"I'll go pay," whispered Angela into Maura's ear. Maura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Maura, don't tell Jane." said Casey as he reached her, his voice low to avoid being overheard by Angela.

Maura narrowed her eyebrows. "You've been back for _months, _and you couldn't even call her? Casey, what happ – "

"Shrapnel hit me in a sweet spot."

"It clearly hasn't inhibited your vocal abilities. You seem like you would be able to pick up a phone."

"You think I haven't wanted to call her?"

"Then why haven't you?"

"It's not as if we were in a relationship, Maura."

"Whether you were in a committed romantic relationship or not, you were at the very least friends. Long time friends. You left for Afghanistan only days after reconciling with her and from what I heard, it was a good time for both of you. So why on earth wouldn't you want to share the fact that you've returned safe?"

"Safe, maybe." snorted Casey. "I returned, sure. What's left of me."

"Oh, Casey – "

"From what I heard, Jane had no problem keeping warm while I was gone anyway," he sneered. "We were never anything, Maura. We can kid ourselves and say that there was something there, a spark from what we had in high school, but God dammit that was nineteen years ago. And maybe we could have worked if I hadn't gone back, but I did. What can I offer her now? A life of taking care of a handicap? _Is that what she deserves?_"

"You must think _very _little of Jane if you believe that this would, in any way, change her opinion of you."

"She's better off not knowing I'm back."

"You can't hide forever, Casey. Boston is only so big. You _will _run in to Jane. And what will you say then? Oh, sorry, I forgot to call? You're _friends._"

"We're strangers."

"If you don't tell her, I will."

"Maura – "

"_No, _Casey. Jane is my best friend and I know this would kill her. Whatever you were, whatever it was, it doesn't matter. You _were _something. You have a connection regardless of it being romantic or platonic. You can't just assume that she would, would... judge you, or whatever it is that is going through your head. That assumption will hurt her more than anything else."

"Please."

Maura folded her arms across her chest. "I won't tell her right now, but I _will _tell her if you don't. When this case is over, if you haven't called her, I'm telling her."

"Why is this so important to you?" demanded Casey.

"Because _Jane _is important to me." Maura said angrily. "And I thought she was important to you too." She turned on her heels and left Casey standing there. Angela was waiting for her by the door. Whether she heard their conversation, Maura couldn't be sure, but Angela didn't seem to want to talk about it and Maura was certainly not going to offer up any information. They made it to Maura's car but Maura stopped in her tracks. "The question you asked me in there, about how I do my job."

"I'm sorry, that was – "

"No, no. It's quite alright. I do this job, I _can _do this job... because I _know _what I'm doing makes a difference, no matter how small. There will always be hate and murder. There will always be crime. There will always be bad people. But at the other end of that, there's me and Jane and all the other detectives, not only here in Boston but all over the world. And we're fighting for something, and maybe it's not necessarily something that we're fighting to win, but we're fighting to make a change. We're doing something to change the lives of others. Save lives. And maybe it seems morbid to work with the dead, but I truly believe that what I do is beautiful. We uncover the very complexities of human nature that most of society runs in fear from." she paused to unlock her car. When she and Angela were inside, Maura continued. "The dead lose their ability to lie and that is a gift to the living. That's what helps me do my job every day. The idea that, even in the tragedy of a lost life, there is one more gift waiting to be shared. One last gift to the world. In death, there is no good or bad left in the body. There is only knowledge."

Maura pulled away from the curb. Angela hadn't felt it necessary to comment on Maura's answer, finding that it was too difficult to even find the words _to _respond. And Maura didn't mind that – she wasn't even entirely sure her answer made sense, not only to Angela, but to herself. All she knew was that it felt satisfying. As they drove, Maura's mind drifted to Casey. She wasn't sure if he was lying about why he didn't want Jane to know about his injury. She wasn't even sure if what she had done or how she acted was appropriate. But Maura knew that whatever pain Casey was feeling could not stand to hold against the pain Maura knew Jane would feel if something like that was kept from her.

And, Maura conceded, it was probably selfish on her part to care more about Jane's pain than Casey's. She knew he was probably struggling in a far greater capacity than either she or Jane could ever imagine. But if Maura was being completely honest with herself, she really didn't care, not because she hated Casey or even disliked Casey in the slightest, but because... well,

Jane was important to Maura.

* * *

Charles took a seat on one of the empty bar stools and bowed his head into his heads.

"Brayden's mom died when he was five, car accident. It was rough for him. He didn't really take to Caitlyn. She was the first woman that I had really dated since his mom, and..." he sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't have moved as fast as we did. A lot changed for him. He hasn't handled it very well, even now."

"And Caidence? Was she alright with all the changes?"

"Caidence was great." replied Caitlyn, looking at Charles for support. "She loved Charlie and Charlie loved her. Aiden and Charlie got along great and Caidence saw that. She really didn't have a problem. She never has. She's always been very quick to adapt to change. We travel a lot with my mother, and she's always the first to want to get up and go."

Charles grinned. "She takes after your mother."

"And Leah."

"Leah?"

"My sister. She's spending a summer in Paris. She just finished at Oxford. Her and Caidence are very close. I haven't had a chance to..." Caitlyn pressed her eyes shut tight. "She doesn't know yet."

"What about Brayden? How has he taken to Caidence? It seemed to me like he harbored a bit of resentment towards her."

"He... well, they mostly ignore each other." Charles admitted. "In the beginning, Caidence tried playing with him, being his friend, but he just wasn't interested. Then with the baby being born... you know, he was so used to being an only child, then suddenly he had a little sister only two years younger than him. It was rough on him. Then Kennedy was born. It's not always rainbows and butterflies, but we make it work."

Jane bit her lip. She knew they had covered the topic, but the new information seemed too pertinent to pass up – maybe there hadn't been a drastic behavioral change in Caidence, but there sure as hell was in her step-brother, and possibly enough for Caidence to not be able to take it anymore.

"Could Caidence have chosen to walk away from her father because she didn't want to come home to Brayden?"

A flash of emotions played across both parents' faces: a little bit of surprise, a little bit of anger, a little bit of worry. But in the end them both turned to Jane with looks of absolute certainty and shook their heads.

"If our daughter is missing, it isn't of her own accord." Caitlyn said surely. "She and Brayden may not have been getting along, but Caidence didn't care either way. She was a very happy little girl."

The door to the kitchen swung open but this time a man stepped through. He looked very much like Caitlyn – a strong, defined jaw line and sandy blonde hair that fell down in shaggy layers to his ears. His arms stretched out for her and she fell into them, her head only reaching just to his shoulder, as they were a considerable difference in height. Her arms stayed wrapped around his waist and he nodded to Charles, a hello of sorts, before his eyes latched onto detectives. Caitlyn pulled away and introduced them.

"This is my brother, Ryan."

"Ryan Morse." Jane and he shook hands. His grip was strong, but she could feel him shaking just slightly. He turned back to his sister. "What happened? Where's Cady?"

"She – Charlie, could you?"

Charles nodded and told Ryan to follow him, and the two men left the room.

"Listen, Caitlyn." Jane leaned over the counter. "You clearly have a very supportive family here. I'm going to do my job to the best of my ability, and then some. We have the tapes from the zoo on their way to our station right now and I'm going to personally comb through every video with my partners. The best thing that you can do for Caidence is stay here in case she calls. We're going to have detectives here with you all night. There are still officers out there with dogs searching for your daughter. We've got an Amber Alert out. It's only been a few hours. These hours are critical, but we're doing our best."

"I just don't understand who would do something like this."

"I ask myself that question every day."

A few questions later, Jane and Frost gathered their notes and headed out of the house, Jane's head swimming with more questions than answers.

Was Caidence really taken, or did she run away, sick of dealing with her problematic older step-brother?

* * *

**Thanks for reading chapter two :)**

**Let me know your thoughts in a review?**

**Hey that rhymed. **


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Jane saw when she walked into the bullpen was Maura sitting in her desk, her eyes glued to whatever she was reading on the computer. "Thanks for coming in, Maura." she said, dropping her bag down where Maura's was and leaning up against her desk. "I want all the eyes on this that I can get."

"Of course. Korsak has just gotten the surveillance videos. There are quite a few..." she looked over at Korsak's desk where, sure enough, nearly ten videos were stacked. Jane went over and picked up the first one and frowned.

"They aren't labeled."

"Apparently in the haste of getting all of the videos together, the zoo employees didn't label them."

"Great." Jane grumbled. "Frost, start going through notes from today. Do a search of the list of people Aiden Barker and the Fords gave you. See if anyone has a record. Check the school where Caitlyn Ford works, too. Korsak start running the parents. Pay attention to the step-father."

"You think he did something?"

"His son hasn't adapted well to the marriage or his new step-sister. Who knows. We've had whackier. My money is on this kid walking away. It just doesn't make sense that someone could take her and get out of there so quickly. This doesn't feel like a kidnapping. I mean, you didn't see that kid, Frost. Worse than Tommy growin' up. I can totally see this kid not wanting to go back home to that. I would take off too."

She took the videos from Korsak and moved them to her own desk, pulling up a seat next to Maura and putting in the first one. Maura was hands down the most observant person she knew. She generally didn't have Maura help her with police work, but Maura could spot a specific set of clothing from a mile away and she knew that if they had half a chance of finding a little girl dressed in a pink, flowered sundress in a crowded zoo from a distorted video camera, Maura was the one for the job.

They spotted the family several times on the videos, but they hadn't come across one that was pointed the lemonade stand. Jane had wanted to comb through all the videos to see if anyone had been tailing the family, but they hadn't yet spotted anything suspicious. Finally on the sixth tape, Jane and Maura could clearly see lemonade stand.

"Slow it down." said Maura quickly.

"There's Aiden Barker." Jane pointed to the screen. "He's got ahold on Caidence's hand. Ashleigh is right there." They watched as the three spoke and then Aiden joined the queue for the frozen lemonade. Jane slowed the tape down even more and watched as Ashleigh and Caidence waited by the stuffed animals. They were just barely on screen, but Jane could still make out what they were doing. Ashleigh stepped to the right and both Jane and Maura got a better view of Caidence. She had just went to pick up a panda stuffed toy when Jane spotted it.

"Hey, hey, hey!" she shouted. "There, right there. You see 'em?" Jane froze the video. "Look at this guy right here, in the corner. He's approaching Caidence. Frost let's get this in the tech room. Enhance this." Frost jumped from his chair and snatched the disc from Jane's fingers. Korsak and Maura jogged after them. Frost already had it up on the big screen when they joined them in the room.

"Can't make out his face." said Frost, squinting at the screen. "He's turned away from this camera the whole time. But look," Frost pressed play and they watched as the man approached Caidence and took her hand. She didn't even act surprised; but as soon as she was pulled closed enough to him, she seemed to slump to his side, and the man walked off camera. "He definitely took her."

"Think he knew where the cameras were?"

"I think he just got lucky. Look where the father was standing and look where Ashleigh was standing. It's as if he saw his opening. Neither Barker or the kid would have seen him approach Caidence, not even out of the corner of their eye. He blends with the crowd, too. Doubt he even noticed the cameras were there.

'What time is it?"

"10:30." answered Maura after a quick look at her watch. "Why?"

"I want this guys image on the eleven o'clock news. What d'ya say, Frost? He looks about 5'6, 5'7?"

"That hat is definitely a Red Sox cap." he said.

"Brown jacket, he looks white." chimed Maura. "I think his hair is brown or black."

"Okay dark hair, white. About 5'6, 5'7. Seen at the Franklin Park Zoo today. Korsak, there's still a few parking lot tapes on my desk. Start running them and see if you can catch this guy walking to his car. How did nobody spot a guy carrying a little girl out of the zoo?" she seethed. "And why, of all kids, does he pick Caidence?"

Frost shrugged. "Opportunity. The kid was alone."

"Nah, this guy scoped her out. There are tons of kids wandering off from their parents. He could have grabbed any kid. Aiden Barker was standing only feet away, and he chose Caidence. That's a high risk situation."

"Adrenaline rush?"

"This was planned." Jane chewed at the tips of her fingers, looking solemnly at the last image of Caidence on the big screen. "This was not random. He could have had any kid. Hell, he could have taken Ashleigh. It was in that one split second that Caidence wasn't by her father, that this guy chose her. In every other tape we've seen them, Aiden had her hand in his. And just look," she waved her hand vaguely at the screen. "Look at how many kids are running around with their parents not in sight."

"Think it's someone that the parents knew?"

Jane thought for a moment before speaking. "Look up the father."

"Aiden Barker? Why?"

"Pull his record and financials."

Maura looked over at Jane, confused. "But Jane, Aiden Barker was standing feet away from his daughter when she was taken. It couldn't have been him."

"A full three minutes go by between when Caidence is taken and Barker notices. He had his eyes on her the entire day, and then suddenly something changes?" she asked. "Somethin' doesn't sit right with me."

"You think this was a parental abduction?" questioned Frost.

"I think you should look up Aiden Barker." Jane demanded.

* * *

Tattered curtains hung from barred windows, their frayed ends and holes barely keeping out the growing moonlight. Specks of light highlighted the moth eaten couch sitting in the middle of the room. A dank smell, something remarkably similar to wet dog mixed with mold, filled James White's nostrils as he paced his living room. The wooden floor creaked beneath his heavy boots, playing in rhythm to the hissing noise of the flies that made home in the kitchen. A stack of dirty dishes spilled out over the sink and onto the couch, brown water trickling down and onto the blue tiled floor.

James dotted his perpetually sweaty forehead with an old rag. He dropped it to the floor afterwards, sweeping it along in a straight line with his foot to clean up droplets of blood. The rag was kicked to the side after, forgotten. A line of smeared red remained on the floor but his attention was lost, captivated only by the little girl's soft cries from the bedroom.

He nudged the door open and watched her for a few moments. Her arms struggled against their confines, an old rip piece of cloth he tore from a t-shirt he no longer wore. He made sure she had enough room to move – surely, if she had wanted to, she could even slide herself off the bed and onto the floor. Her eyes were striped red from the salty tears that she had shed, but her face was long dry; only that remained were the long, streaked shadows of her pain and fear. Her blonde hair was pulled back away from her face, but a few tendrils escaped, almost blanketing her right eye. She noticed him then, for the first time since they had come there, and she choked back a sob.

"Can I please go home?" she cried, a new tear threatening to spill.

"Is that too tight?" he asked gruffly, coming over and checking the knot. He loosened it a bit, just enough so her tired and worn wrists weren't chaffed. "Sorry."

"I want to go home."

"Yeh're gonna go home soon," responded the man. She hadn't yet seen his face up close. The shock of it all caused her to shudder – he wasn't a particularly attractive man, nor was he hideous. His face was rough with acne scars from his teenage years that had never faded. Thick brown hair was matted to his head, looking as though it had been unwashed in days. A repugnant smell filled Caidence's nostrils and she fought the urge to gag. His breath was laced with the smell of garlic. He wore a tired expression and his skin was as pale and lifeless as his grey eyes.

"I want to go home now."

"I gotta figure out a way to get ya home."

"I know my address." she squeaked. "I know my mom's phone number."

James whips around from looking out the window, his eyes narrowed and his gaunt face twisted in rage. "Yeh're _not goin' home to yeh're mother._" he hissed. "I'm takin' yeh to yer _real _home. Yer _real _family." Frightened, Caidence pulled herself away from him, pressing her small back up against the iron headboard of the bed. His expression softened. "Sorry," he said quietly, his eyes moving down to her arm. A thin line stretched from her wrist to half way to her elbow. "Sorry for that, too. I didn't mean to. Does it – does it hurt? Do you want me to, to get somethin' for it? I don't got a lot here, but, I, uh... I might got some bandaids or somethin'. I know I gotta cut my nails," he chuckled a little bit and looked down at his fingers. "Didn't mean to scratch yeh like tha'." Caidence remained silent. "H-hang on. Here," he left and came back with a small tattered box. "Knew I had some'a these. Got a rag, too. See here?" He moved to take her arm but she yanked it back. "I promise I ain't gonna hurt you. Just lemme see your arm. I'm just gonna clean it up. See, the rag is wet." He touched it to her skin.

Caidence scooted forward and allowed him access to her arm fully. He dabbed at the cut so the dried blood would wash away. He dumped the contents of the bandaid box on the bed. There were a few in different shapes and sizes, but none that would match the length of her wound. He grabbed the small bit of gauze that was left and unwraveled it.

"Guess it's a good thing you're so small," he said. "Won't take much to wrap your arm." He finished it by taping the gauze down with regular bandaids. "Don't got any tape, sorry." he muttered.

"Thank you." whispered Caidence, shrugging herself away from him once more.

"Gonna get you home, kid." said James as he pulled away from her and walked out of the room. "Gonna get you home to your real family."

* * *

"No arrests." said Frost as he pulled up Aiden Barker on his computer. "Born in Michigan, moved here to Boston with his dad when was thirteen. 20 when Caidence was born. He was just gettin' out of school."

"They moved back to Michigan when she was born, right? That's what Caitlyn said."

"Yeah," Frost squinted his eyes at the screen as he scrolled. "Moved back in 2005."

"Does it seem weird to anyone else that he just let his daughter move back to a completely different state without even fighting for her?" asked Jane. "I mean, hell, I'd fight tooth and nail for my kid."

"Looks like he was havin' some money problems." Frost said. "Student loan debt."

"Yeah Caitlyn said that he couldn't support a kid financially, but even still. If he can't afford to take care of her back home, how can he afford to fly out here every few weeks? Do you have his financials pulled up?"

"Hang on, here we go – _oh. _Oh, here we go. Looks like Aiden Barker paid off his debt in full a few months ago. Couple thousand in debt, gone. Just like that." Jane walked over and leaned over Frost's shoulder to get a better look at what her partner was seeing. "Looks like he's been dropping the cash, too. Bought a new house back home in Michigan. Whew," Frost leaned back in his chair. "Paid 200,000 upfront."

"Christ, I have trouble paying my rent every month." said Jane, her eyes transfixed on the screen. "Where did this guy get money all of a sudden?"

"Money started rollin' in about seven months ago."

"Jane, I got something." said Korsak from his desk. He stood and walked over to Jane, Frost and Maura. "You'll never believe this. Aidan Barker filed for primary custody of his daughter just a few weeks ago, and get this – this is his second time filing." He waved the papers in front of Jane's face and she snatched them from him, scouring the page with her eyes. "Looks like Barker tried getting his daughter back home to Michigan about a year ago but was denied due to financial standing. He filed again six weeks ago to the day."

"Statistically more than 200,000 children are abducted by family members each year, compared to the 58,000 that are abducted by non-family members." said Maura from her seat. "Most abductions are by non-custodial parents. It's very tragic."

"Frost, get Aidan Barker's _ass _in my interrogation room, I don't care what time it is. I want to talk to him."

As Frost turned to leave, Korsak stood as well. "I'll go update Cavanaugh." he said. Jane nodded and then they were both gone, leaving Jane and Maura alone.

"Are you alright?" asked Maura.

Jane smiled weakly and nodded. "It's just the kid cases, you know? Geez," she slouched down in the seat opposite Maura and closed her eyes for a second. Her head was throbbing, making it hard to focus on anything other than the inside of her eyelids. "Happy birthday, Maura." They both chuckled a bit but sobered quickly. Jane opened her eyes and looked at Maura sadly. "We might have to cancel Wicked. The tickets are for Friday. If this case – "

"_Really, _Jane. That is the farthest thing from my mind. Besides," Maura reached across and grabbed Jane's hand, intertwining their fingers and squeezing. "All I really expected from today was spending it with the people I love, and I'm doing that... right now."

The darker haired woman smiled but pulled away from her friend. "There is one very important thing, though, that you absolutely cannot miss on your birthday."

"Oh there is?" asked Maura, pulling from her revere.

"Absolutely." Jane reached down and dug through her bag, finally pulling out a small plastic container and setting it on the desk. Maura looked at her suspiciously before leaning forward and popping open the lead. An immediate smile stretched across her face.

"Cake."

"Cake!" yelled Jane enthusiastically. "The one day that absolutely nobody can judge you, or your friends, for eating lots and lots of cake." She pulled out two plastic forks and stabbed them into the frosting. "Can't do anything until Aidan Barker gets in here. Shall we?"

Maura couldn't help but laugh. She leaned forward and grabbed a fork, pulling it out and taking a taste of the cool vanilla frosting. "We absolutely shall." she agreed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

By 11:15, Jane and Frost were sitting across Aiden Barker in the interrogation room.

Jane and Frost looked tired, but they looked nothing compared to Aiden. He seemed to have aged in just the few hours that they had seen him last. His hair scraggly light brown hair was unkempt and dark purple underlined his eyes. He had clearly been crying.

"Why am I here?" he asked. "Why aren't you out looking for Caidence?"

"Tell me something, Mr. Barker." began Jane, flipping open the folder that she had brought with her and sliding out a photo. She slid it across the table towards him. He hesitated at first, his eyes burning with frustration, but finally looked down. "Have you ever seen this man? Did you notice him at the zoo?"

Aiden scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You can't even see his face."

"Answer the question." Frost replied softly. "Did you see him? Notice someone in a Red Sox cap following you around? Did you stop for lunch and he was at a table near you?"

"Not that I am aware of." The man's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth. "You couldn't ask me this in my hotel room? You couldn't have brought this photo over to Caitlyn's and called me there? _Why am I here, _detectives?"

Jane and Frost glanced at each other and then Jane opened the folder again, placing the photo back inside and pulling out a sheet of paper. She set that down next and waited for Aiden to look it over. When he pulled his eyes back up to look into hers, he had surpassed angry and gone into furious.

"What does this have to do with anything?" he seethed. "You're wasting time, God dammit!" His fist slammed against the table. Neither Jane or Frost flinched.

"Why are you applying for primary custody, Mr. Barker?"

"Why – are you joking? She's my daughter, I _love _her. I want her with me. I didn't realize applying for custody was a crime."

'It's not." said Frost shortly. "But non-custodial parental abduction is."

Aiden dropped back in his chair and stared aghast at both detectives. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"Should we be?" asked Jane.

He leaned forward with the palms of his hands flat against the table, his voice just above a whisper: "If you have something you want to say, say it."

Jane leaned forward to meet his stare. "Did you have something to do with your daughter's disappearance?"

"You're insane." he hissed. "I trusted my father when he said his friend's team was going to take on Caidence's case. I trusted that homicide detectives could do the work. But if you're going to _sit there _on your incompetent asses and accuse me of taking my own daughter – "

"We're not accusing you of anything. We asked a question."

"I'm done answering your questions." Aiden went to stand but Frost stood with him.

"Sit down."

"Am I under arrest?"

"You really want to act like a jackass when we're tryin' to find your kid?" yelled Jane. "Sit your ass back down in the chair. We have a few questions." There was a moment where Jane was sure Aiden would turn and walk out – and really, what could she do? She couldn't arrest him for anything – but soon he returned to his seat with a scowl on his face. "You've filed for custody twice now."

"Yes."

"Why didn't it work out the first time?"

"The money wasn't there." he replied gruffly. "I was living with my mom back in Michigan, work was slow."

"And it isn't anymore?"

"No. I'm doin' good now. I've got a steady income and I've got a new place. Look," he sighed and leaned on his elbows. "I just want Caidence home with me. Her mom is great. Her step-dad is great. But I want my kid growin' up like I did, in Michigan. Fresh air, less traffic. I live in a nice, rural area. There are good schools, better than here in Boston. It's too big and loud here. I'm not... I'm not filing for custody to take her away from her mom."

"What work do you do?"

"What?"

"You say you've got a steady income now. We took a look into public records and we saw that you've recently purchased a rather expensive new home." Jane pulled out the spreadsheet and handed it over to him. "That must be quite the job, Mr. Barker."

"Buying a house is a crime?"

"Buying a house after a greater portion of your twenties was spent in student loan debt and near bankruptcy is suspicious."

"I came in to some money."

"You came in to some money." Jane leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes and an annoyed grin playing at her lips. "You're making yourself look more and more suspicious, Aiden, by not giving me straight answers."

Aiden's eyes went back and forth between Jane and Frost before finally they settled on his own clasped hands. He took a deep breath and then scooted his chair backwards, then reached down and unbuckled his backpack.

* * *

Maura relaxed into Jane's desk chair and nursed a mug of hot tea. This was certainly her least favorite part of any investigation – when Jane had work and Maura didn't. Korsak sat behind her at his own desk, his tired eyes scanning over papers with small print that looked important, but Maura wasn't sure if she should offer to help or not. They had every intention to watch Jane's interrogation of Aiden Barker but Korsak had offered to sit at the phone in case any tips came through on their lines, and Maura didn't think it kind to leave him all by himself.

A few minutes had passed between them, silent and uneventful. The phone remained as quiet as they did and only the sound of Korsak flipping pages even reminded Maura of his presence. She was lost in her own thoughts – lost in the image of Jane standing in front of her, her eyes so tired and vacant of anything other than the hardened determination that Maura had seen so many times before. One of Jane's most endearing qualities was her dedication to her job and to her city, but it was also what Maura feared would destroy the seasoned officer. Maura watched Jane, almost like she was conducting a study – no, that wasn't quite the right word, Maura thought absently. But regardless of why she was doing it, Maura watched Jane – saw the way certain cases changed the way she walked, the way she talked, the way she presented herself. She saw the crumbling exterior of a woman crippled by the horrific realities of their world.

But Maura also saw something incredibly fascinating in her best friend. She saw her resilience. Admired it, even. Because even in the most disturbing of cases, the most gruesome crimes, the things that even Maura found herself haunted by... Jane Rizzoli pushed past it all. Maybe not flawlessly, maybe not even in a way that could be considered healthy by any mental health professional, but Jane did it. Jane did something Maura envied.

And, though Maura chastised herself often for the thought, Maura found it strangely arousing; the determination, the resilience, the thirst for justice in what some may consider a hopeless world. Maura Isles was irrevocably attracted to Jane Rizzoli, but she was hell bent on that secret never coming out.

"This probably wasn't the way you wanted to spend your birthday."

Korsak's voice caused Maura to jump. She blushed, suddenly remembering that she wasn't alone in the room and, having been thinking about Jane, became a bit embarrassed. She swallowed and took a moment to compose herself before finally swiveling around in the chair to look at Korsak.

"I don't mind, really." she said, waving her hand absently in the air. "I've never really been one for birthday celebrations."

"Ha," grunted Korsak. "I loved 'em as a kid. Unwrapping presents, _cake._"

Maura grimaced. "My birthday celebrations were rather... well, they were more so for my parents than myself." she admitted. "I didn't have birthday parties. I had soirées in Paris with fifty of their closest friends and their children. Children, I might had," she held up a finger and chuckled a little bit. " – who really and truly didn't like me."

"I can't imagine nobody not likin' you, doc."

"Believe it. I didn't mind, though. I hated the attention. I felt it was unwarranted. Celebrating my birth seemed like a great hypocrisy. It's not as though my... _arrival, _or even the announcement of my arrival, was really all that wanted."

"Ah, now c'mon, Maura. Your parents adopted you. They wanted you."

"My parents love me very much," she muttered with a sad smile. "But I was never wanted, Vince." her smile turned upward, halfheartedly. "I have accepted that now more than ever, considering recent events."

Korsak nodded grimly. "You heard anything on Doyle?"

"Just that he's being held in Walpole." Maura sighed. "He's being brought up on charges for nearly fifteen murders."

"You dealin' with it okay?"

She shrugged. "My anger towards Jane for shooting Patrick was misguided, I fully understand that now. I think I was so desperate for a biological attachment that I, I don't know, lost my mind? Nothing was clear. But he told the woman that gave birth to me that I had died. I will not, I _can't _forgive that. Knowing that about Patrick makes it all the more easy to see him spend the rest of his life in jail. I mean," she looked up at Korsak. " – technically, he killed me too."

"Are you going to look for Hope?"

"I've considered it." replied Maura. "But what would I even say to her? Hello, I'm the daughter you conceived with the Irish mob boss? The one you were told died? It doesn't seem fair. Hope has had thirty-six years to bury me, to bury her pain. I'm happy with the life I have now. Am I curious? Naturally. But I already have a mother and father, despite their faults, and I have a family here at work. You, Barry, the Rizzoli's – "

Korsak interrupted her. "_Especially _Jane." he gave a throaty laugh. "Never seen that girl so whipped before in all my life. She'd do anything for ya, Maura."

Maura felt her cheeks grow hot. "Jane is my best friend." she mumbled pathetically, turning back around in her desk.

_And it can only be that, _she thought to herself.

* * *

Jane's hand, pinned to her side on her gun, relaxed when Aiden leaned back up and dropped a book before she and Frost. It wasn't too large, but the cover showed a girl who looked remarkably similar to Caidence. Her blonde hair was split in thick braids on either side of her face and a trail of freckles began at her nose and spread to each of her cheeks. She was lounging beneath a tree in the shade of a forest, a petite kitten sitting loyally on her shoulder. The title read "_The Many Adventures of Katie Denson". _Jane cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Aiden.

"It's a five book deal." he explained, shoving it closer to the two detectives. "I'm an author."

"You're an author." deadpanned Jane, picking up the book and flipping through the pages.

"I worked at a newspaper back in Michigan. Caidence would come visit me every few weeks and she was always telling these stories, just... the craziest things." he trailed off, smiling a bit. "I mean, the things that would come out of her head – it was really incredible. She has a very vivid imagination. She's always been an on the go kid, ya know? Wants to go out there, see things. We sat down and started writing her stories together. This was the product." He waved aimlessly at the book in Jane's hands. "This is how I made my money. How I bought the house, how I paid off my student loans." he leaned back in his chair.

"And you were hesitant to tell us this... why?" asked Frost.

"You're kidding." he snorted. "I write _children's books _for a living, for Christ's sake. That isn't exactly the kind of work I intended on putting my English major to. Hell, I couldn't even get a book published without the help of my daughter, I mean. Come on."

Jane nodded. "I get it."

"Thank you – " responded Aiden diligently, but Jane wasn't finished.

"You realized that Caidence was the money maker." Her eyes snapped up from staring at the desk to find his. "You have four more books to write. You can't break the contract. If you do, all that money, everything you were promised – poof. And you wanted Caidence with you."

" – no – "

" – because _she _is what gives you the inspiration for these books, and your inspiration was hundreds of miles away – "

" – _no, _I – "

" – so you decide to take what you want. You know that there's a chance the courts won't award you primary custody, you know that even with the money, you can't change things. But then you realize that while you can't change things, but the _money _can."

Aiden's fist slammed against the table and he stood up, his chair toppling over behind him. Jane stood up as well, and Frost after her.

"I filed for custody because I want Caidence to have the best life possible!" he yelled. "I didn't file because of the books, I filed because I _love _her! Jesus Christ, you people – she – _God, _she hates her step brother! He's awful to her! He calls her names, he picks on her. What the hell can I do from a different state? I'm trying to protect her!"

"Are you sure it wasn't jealousy?" growled Jane. "Caitlyn married a man six months after meeting him, but she wouldn't even marry you after she had your baby. That didn't sting a little, Aiden? Maybe make you want to take something from her. Maybe you wanted to take your daughter back."

"Why would I file for custody if I was just going to take her!" he spat.

Jane shrugged and sat back down in her chair, folding her arms patiently on the desk and waiting for Aiden to do the same. His chest heaving, he finally bent over and grabbed the chair, sitting it back upright and taking a seat. "Maybe you were impatient," replied Jane quietly. "The courts tend to side with the mother. There's nothing wrong with where Caidence is living. She's happy, she's well taken care of. She has lots of family here in Boston. Step-brother or not, Caidence is happy. The court takes that into consideration. You would be pulling her away from her siblings, her mother, her aunts and uncles, her friends and her school..."

"I would never hurt my daughter." he hissed through clenched teeth. "And I would never rip her away from her mother."

"Isn't that what you're doing anyway? Tearing her away from her mother in a custody battle?"

"I'm trying to do what is best for Caidence. What _I _believe is best."

"That's what worries me." Jane stood and gathered the papers from the table. "You're free to go, Mr. Barker. I have nothing to hold you on. But let me tell you this," she bent low over the table and got in his face, narrowing her eyes down at him. "Your father did right by asking our boss to handle this case, because I will not stop until I find your little girl. And hell, I might be wrong. You might have absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. In fact, you've almost convinced me that you're in the clear. But I swear on everything I love, if you _did _have _anything _to do with this, I will find out. I will find her, and I will find you, and your _ass _will be in a cell before you can even blink. Your money might have done the crime, but you're the one that's going to be serving fifteen to twenty in Norfolk while your money goes to a team of defense lawyers."

Jane straightened up and looked down at him one more time; he looked startled – Jane wasn't sure if it was from her attitude or from the idea of being stuck in a jail cell for a good portion of the rest of his life – but it satisfied her and she turned and left the room, Frost following close behind. They heard the door open and shut again and knew that Aiden had gone.

"Think he did it?" asked Frost as they walked back into the room where Korsak and Maura were sitting.

"No clue." Jane responded flatly. "I think he would do just about anything for his daughter, though, and maybe in a normal situation, that would be great, but it makes him look suspicious right now. Hey, any tips come through?"

Korsak shoot his head. "Nothin'. I'm gonna go grab somethin' from the vending machine. Frost, want anything?"

"I'll come along."

"What time is it?" Jane asked Maura when the two other detectives left.

"Nearly midnight."

Jane leaned against her desk and looked down at Maura. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep? No point in you sticking around."

"I'm not going home without you." They both paused at these words, Jane's slouched body snapping upright. "I don't want you to be lonely here, that's all." said Maura after a moment's hesitation. Jane visibly relaxed. "You need sleep too, you know. You can't stay away through the night. Other detectives are in the building and there are people manning the phones. You, Korsak and Frost are useless if you're tired."

"I don't know if I can sleep."

"You can try," said Maura lightly.

"I just..." Jane turned to face Maura. "I don't know how to sleep when there is a little girl out there who could be... I don't know, you know. I _don't _know what she's going through, or if she's even going through anything. She could be – "

"She's alive, Jane." insisted Maura. She reached across the desk and set her hand upon Jane's. "You have to believe that."

"I believe you."

Maura smiled. "That's a lie." she said playfully. "You never believe me. You didn't believe me when I told you that there are as many hairs per square inch on our human bodies as there is on a chimpanzee until I showed you that article – "

"Oh come _on, _Maura. You really want me to believe that I'm as hairy as a freaking monkey?"

"Our hair is finer and less visible, Jane, but I assure you – "

"I do not have as much hair as a chimp!"

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't."

"_Yes, _you do."

"I do not!"

"You're just proving my point!"

"What point?" scoffed Jane.

"That you don't believe me!"

Jane paused. "Oh. Well," she chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully for a minute before waving her hands in defeat and huffing slightly. "Whatever. You ruined the moment."

"What moment?" Maura laughed.

"I was trying to be all nice and best friend-ly and say I believe you and you just had to ruin it with your _science." _

Maura rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm sorry I ruined your nice and best friend-ly moment."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They both smiled at each other.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :) Review if you'd like.**


	5. Chapter 5

With a few hours of sleep, Jane headed back downstairs from Maura's bedroom and got in her car, driving to the station to pick up Frost on the way. Korsak had called; a tip came just a few minutes before. A woman claimed to have an ID of the man in the photo that the BPD released to the public. It was the only hunch they had gotten, and Jane didn't want to waste a single moments hesitation.

She left Maura asleep. It seemed cruel to wake her. They spent most of the night lying in somewhat of a haze; too tired to talk, but their minds too alert to sleep. Maura had drifted off sometime before Jane, her head having fallen onto Jane's shoulder. When Korsak had called, Maura had barely even budged. Jane slipped from the bed and down the steps as quietly as she could. She knew she would get a call from Maura eventually, chastising her for not waking her up, but Jane didn't care much.

Frost slid into the car a little clumsily, tipping two coffees into the cup holders and lugging his bag in with him, nestling it between his feet.

"Get any sleep?" he asked.

"Barely." Jane reached for a coffee and took a sip, trying to masquerade her grimace with a smile. Frost never did get her order right. "Thanks."

The car ride was short and quiet. Frost read out directions from the GPS and Jane followed them silently, making turns when it was necessary and sometimes fiddling with the radio out of habit. They pulled up to an older apartment complex and parked. Rusted iron porch railings hugged the crumbling cement steps up towards the main door. Two brown haired, sun kissed little girls were perched on the steps with chalk in their hands. They wore matching summer dresses – pink with white flowers – but one looked older than the other. Each had the same wide, curiosity stricken eyes as Jane and Frost exited the car.

Frost and Jane smiled at them as they made their way into the building, but neither smiled back. The older girl raised an eyebrow, a faded scar becoming more visible when she did so, and slid her hand protectively over the other little girl's.

The hallway was dimly lit. It was nicer inside than it had looked outside, Jane noted, but it still wasn't the classiest of sorts; the wallpaper was old and peeling and the carpet was stained in some places, but a few well placed welcome mats took care of the largest spots. They came across apartment six with little hassle and Jane, one hand on her gun, pounded on the door with her other.

"Boston Police," she yelled. "Open up please."

The door swung open in the very next second. A frazzled woman stood in front of them, in her arms a small toddler no older than one or two with thin locks of dark, curly light brown hair slipping from underneath a towel. Her skin was fairer than the woman's but her cheeks were dotted with the same light brown freckles.

"May I help you?" she asked, her forehead crinkling as she looked between the two detectives.

"James White lives here?"

The woman's face immediately soured. "Not anymore."

"May we come in?"

"What is this about?"

"We have reason to believe that James White has been involved in a kidnapping of a young girl." The woman stumbled back a little and held her daughter closer. "May we please come inside and talk?" Jane asked again. With a nod, the woman moved to the side so Jane and Frost could enter. She took the toddler in her arms and walked across the room to a play pen, setting her down inside and handing her a stuffed toy. She came back to Jane and Frost and extended a hand.

"Delia Castrelo."

"Detective Jane Rizzoli. This is my partner, Detective Barry Frost. You say James White lived here?"

"Yes."

"What's your relation to Mr. White?"

"I...I'm his ex-wife. Or, well, we're separated. We have three children together." She looked over to where the toddler was sitting. "That's our youngest, Carmen. Adriana and Alicia are outside playing. You said a kidnapping? You must have the wrong man, detectives."

"Where is your ex-husband now?"

"The last I heard he was staying with some friends in Bay Village on Arlington Street. I think I still have their address around here somewhere. I... _why _do you think it's James? He isn't the greatest man I've ever know, but I can't ever see him taking a _child._"

Frost set his bag down on the couch and dug through it until he found the photo of Caidence that he was looking for. "Have you ever seen this girl before?" Delia stared long and hard at the photo, then shook her head. Frost pulled out the surveillance photo of what they suspected to be James White. "Could this be your husband?"

She shook her head and shrugged. "Maybe, I can't be sure. It's not very clear. It could be, I guess. About his height, maybe..." she faltered and tore her eyes away from the photo. "But I don't know the little girl."

"You said James was staying with friends?" asked Frost, pulling the photo away.

"Tony and Noelle Kinlan." she said promptly. "I told them, I told them that taking him in was a bad idea. They told James that he could stay there for as long as he was clean, but I told them that he was never clean."

Jane wrote down their names and looked back up at Delia. "He had a problem with drugs?"

"Not when I married him, that's for sure." she grumbled. "I married a _good _man, a _good _father, but I haven't seen him since the day I kicked him out and neither have my girls. They deserve more than a strung out coke addict for a father." A tear ran down her cheek. "We've never been perfect parents, but we had love enough for all three of them to make up for all the things they deserved but we couldn't give them. Their own rooms, a nicer home. More money. But love was enough for me and them, but James didn't think so. He wanted more money. It became an obsession. That's when he got into drugs, and..." she took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Are you familiar with the names Caitlyn Ford? Charles Ford? Aiden Barker?"

Delia frowned and shook her head. "They don't sound familiar."

"Take a look at her photo once more," Jane grabbed Caidence's photo from Frost. "Are you _sure _you've never seen her? Maybe heard your husband say her name? Caidence?"

"I'm sorry, detective. I – "

The door behind them sprung open and the two little girls from the porch flew in, running towards their mother's side and seeming to notice Jane and Frost after they got there. They eyed them both suspiciously, clinging onto their mother's arms a little bit tighter. The older girl looked to Jane's hands and saw the picture. She tilted her head to the side a bit and, while chewing her bottom lip, mumbled: "Hey, I've seen her before."

Jane's head snapped up and over to Frost, who looked just as wide-eyed and surprised and Jane was sure she looked herself.

"You've seen this little girl before?" Jane asked her. The girl nodded shyly. Delia hugged her tighter.

"Mi hija," whispered Delia. "Tell them. It's okay. This little girl is missing and her parents miss her very much." The girl hesitated. "Por favor, mi hija. For mommy."

Jane leaned forward. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Adriana." she said quietly.

"What about you?" Jane turned to the other girl.

"Alicia."

"This little girl's name is Caidence." she bent down to Adriana and Alicia's level and held the photo upright. "You said you've seen her before. Did you talk to her?"

"No." replied Adriana.

"Did you see her with someone?" A tiny nod. "Who?" Both of the girls looked at each other. "Is it someone that you know?" Another nod. Jane looked up at Frost, who nodded, an urge to continue. "Was it your daddy?" There was a moments pause, but Jane saw it – one last tiny nod coming from Adriana. Her heart beat quickened. "Where?"

"At the zoo."

"You were at the zoo with your daddy?"

Adriana looked nervously at her mother. "Yes."

Delia looked enraged. "When?" she asked, exasperated. "Yesterday?"

"Grammy White called daddy and said that we were there. I'm sorry, Mama. I know you said daddy was away and we couldn't see him, but he said we were going to the zoo, and I miss him so much." Delia's expression softened and she squeezed her daughter's hands.

"It's okay, mi hija. You told the truth, that's all that matters." Delia turned to Jane and Frost. "I had them at their grandparents yesterday while I worked, I didn't know – "

Jane held up a hand. "It's okay, Ms. Castrelo. It's just important that we know what your daughters know now. Adriana, Alicia, can you tell me what happened when you saw Caidence? Did your daddy introduce you to her?"

"No," said Adriana thoughtfully. "We never spoke to her. Daddy said she was tired."

"Tired?"

"She was sleeping in the wagon under our blanket. Daddy said we had to be real quiet and not disturb her, 'cause she was tired and he needed to bring her home to her real family because they missed her." she explained, her voice a little bit lighter now that she knew she wasn't in trouble. "Did she get home to her family?"

Jane's heart sunk. "We, uh," she looked up at Frost for help, but he seemed to be struggling just as much as she. " – we're helping get her back to her family," stammered Jane. "Could you tell us a lil' bit more? Where did you guys go after the zoo?"

"Daddy drove us home to Grammy's house. Caidence stayed asleep when we got there, so daddy left her in the car while he went inside with us. Then he left. He told me and Ali not to tell no one about the little girl, 'cause he said he wanted it to be a surprise." she turned to her mother and frowned. "Is dad gonna be mad that I told? I broke a promise."

"No, honey. This was a promise that's okay to be broken."

"Adriana," Jane tapped the girl on the shoulder to bring her attention back. "Was... I, I don't want you to be scared, but was Caidence... could you tell if her chest was moving up and down like yours and mine? Was she breathing?"

Adriana's eyes went owl wide. "Why wouldn't she be breathing?"

"It's just a question." Jane said quickly. "It's important, though. Can you think real hard for me?"

"I – I don't know..." she stuttered with a shaky breath. "Mama, did daddy do something wrong?"

Jane stood and gave an aching look to Frost. More than one little girl would be hurt in this whole ordeal – four in total, all completely innocent. It pained Jane to look at the three little browned eyed girls. Alicia was turned into her mother's side, her face buried in shyness and what Jane assumed was worry. Adriana was looking expectantly at her mother, waiting for an answer that Delia didn't know how to give. After a long few minutes of silence, Jane cleared her throat and asked Delia for the address of where James was supposedly staying and a recent photo of the man.

Frost and Jane took off shortly after, their silence speaking louder than what their words could. Half-way to the apartment, Jane picked up her phone to call Korsak and fill him in, her mind unable to erase the face of the four little girls.

* * *

"That was Jane." said Korsak as he tossed his phone back on his desk. "Said White wasn't there, but talked to the ex-wife. Guy's got three kids, all little girls." he sighed. "Little girl said that they were at the zoo and James did have Caidence. Told the kids she was asleep at that he was bringing her home to the dad."

Maura and Frankie were crowded around the desk. Jane thought she had been quiet when she slipped from Maura's bed, but Jane Rizzoli was anything but quiet and she certainly wasn't very subtle. Maura woke just after Jane had tugged on both of her work boots, but remained still until she was sure Jane was out the front door. She knew that Jane would try and convince her that she needn't come into the office, that she could have her day off to lounge and have the birthday Jane thought Maura deserved, but Maura already felt too emotionally invested in the case of the lost little girl to let Jane stop her. She showered and changed into something comfortable, then ate a quick breakfast and made her way out to the department.

"He's a father?" asked Maura, scrunching her forehead in thought. "That seems so strange, doesn't it? A father abducting a child? You said ex-wife, correct?" Korsak nodded. "Does he have rights over his children?"

"Jane said the mom hasn't allowed him to see the kids since their separation. Cokehead."

"Hmm," Maura hummed. "It could very well be that Aiden Barker hired James White to abduct his daughter, but there could be another theory."

Korsak leaned forward. "Hit me, doc."

Maura paused and looked at Korsak with trepidation. "I would never hit you, Sergeant Korsak."

"Maura, it's a – " began Frankie, but then he shook his head and waved for her to continue on with whatever she was about to say. "You know what, nevermind. Just... keep going."

"Well," Maura said slowly. "It could be that James White has formed some kind of psychology attachment to Caidence Barker. Perhaps he has been following her or Aiden for quite some time. He has been taken away from his own children and he knows how that feels. He has felt the pain of a parent being separated from his child. It could be that he was trying to inflict that pain on someone else to make himself feel less alone."

"Nah, nah, nah." Frankie stood from where he was leaning against a desk. "The kid said that White kept saying he was taking Caidence home to her real family. Why would he say that?"

"To pacify his children? How else would you explain to three little girls why you're suddenly carrying another child and bringing her home with them, a child they had never met?"

Korsak interrupted Frankie and Maura's debate with a knock on the desk. "Just looked up James White's record. On probation for drug charges, no surprise there." he scrolled down the page some more. "Other than that, he's clean. Up until two years ago, James White was a blue collar factory worker with three kids and a wife."

"And now he's a cokehead with an ex-wife and child support." Frankie snorted. "I'll never understand how someone can turn to drugs. I mean, he had it pretty good, you know? Wife and kids, that's better than most. Even with a lousy job – "

"Many drug users start using solely for a recreational purpose. The addiction comes much later. It's a subtle fight between the mind and the substance, and soon it is a full out war. It could have been because he wanted to feel good or because he was self-medicating, whether because he had an undiagnosed mental or physical health problem or because he was trying to block out a memory or simply to try something new." said Maura. "You can't categorize all drug users into one giant pool, Frankie. He could be rich and living in a palace and still have a problem."

"Still don't get it." grumbled Frankie. "You'd think he would want to be there for his kids, y'know?"

Korsak pointed at Frankie. "We aren't here about his drug use, Frankie. You can't fixate on one thing about a suspect. You wanna make detective, you'd be wise to remember that. You look at every inch of a suspect's history and past, because everything matters, but you glue yourself on one little detail, your whole case will fall apart around you." Frankie nodded curtly and sank down in a chair. "No ransom calls at the Ford's house, so he doesn't want money. We called in Caitlyn and Charles Ford to talk again."

"You don't really think they had anything to do with it, do you?"

"When one parent is suspected of custodial abduction, we have to look at both. I looked into White's financials and it doesn't look like he's been getting any money into the account. Got a grand total of twenty bucks in checking, even less in savings. Figure if Aiden Barker hired him, there'd be a money trace, right?"

"But if Barker didn't hire him, why'd he do it?" asked Frankie.

"Could'a been a random snag, I guess."

"It doesn't feel like that, though." said Maura. "If White said he was bringing her to her true family, and Aiden hired him, why wouldn't he just leave Caidence with him? Aiden could have taken Caidence himself. What is White's motive?"

"Guess we'll find out when Jane brings him in. Let's hope that he's at the place his ex-wife said he was at." Korsak looked back down at the notes he took from Jane's phone call. "Hey, Maura? What kind of drugs could sedate a person?"

"Benzodiazepines like diazepam, midazolam, nitrazepam. Some people use herbal sedatives and then there are nonbenzodiasepines and antihistamines. Why?"

"'Cause Jane said that the girl said Caidence was sleeping when James brought her back to them."

"A small dose of anything could knock a child of Caidence's size right out."

"Is it safe?"

Maura hesitated. "In the hands of professionals, sure." she folded her arms across her stomach. "But any kind of drug given improperly can be dangerous, especially to a child. If he did dose her to keep her quiet, it could have been anything from a pill to an injection or something oral. Given that he only had a few seconds to take her and walk away, and from what we saw on the video, I would say it's likely he injected her with something. Which, if that's the case... it would be very ease for her to give her too much." Both Frankie and Korsak sighed at the thought. "Korsak, can we view the surveillance from the North Exit again."

Korsak fumbled through the stack of videos and popped it in. "What are we looking for?"

"Jane said that Caidence was in the wagon, covered by a blanket. We've been looking for a lone man carrying a girl, or dragging a girl along. We weren't looking for a family at the zoo." Korsak gave Maura a smile and then slapped Frankie on the arm.

"Better be careful, Frankie. Maura here might make detective before you do." he jested. They settled in front of the screen and watched as the video feed moved along. Fifteen minutes had gone by when Frankie nudged Korsak, leaping forward in his seat and pointing wildly at the screen.

Korsak and Maura saw it at the same time as Frankie.

"Korsak!"

"I see it."

"Oh my God."

"Call Jane!"

There was no mistake – James White had looked directly up at the cameras, one hand wrapped securely through the handle of the wagon and his other hand holding the hand of a toddler. Two older girls strutted along side the wagon.

What haunted the three the most were the faded strands of blonde hair slipping from beneath a blanket.

* * *

A sprinkle of rain began just as Jane and Frost pulled down the street towards the Kinlan's apartment. Jane tugged her coat tighter around her as the two walked up the steps, scowling slightly. If there was one thing she hated more than snow, it was rain. She wasn't normally the type of woman to care if her hair got messy, but rain caused more havoc on her curls than she could possibly stand.

"Apartment 7." Frost pointed towards a green door with a gold number seven stuck to the front, just above a peep hole. He stepped in front of Jane and knocked. The next moment the door swung open.

Noelle Kinlan reminded Jane strongly of the kind of housewives that she watched growing up on television – the patterned flower dress, hair pulled back into a tight bun and an apron tied tightly around her waist. She smiled at them, her two, plump red lips separating in a smile and revealing stunningly white teeth. Wiping her hands on her apron, she looked Jane and Frost over, and her smile faded as her eyes settled on Frost's gun on his waist and Jane's badge just visible through her jacket.

"Tony?" she called out behind her. A man stepped from the side and looked at the detectives, a placid smile on his face.

"Is there something we can help you with?" asked Tony.

"Detective Barry Frost, my partner Jane Rizzoli. Is there a James White living at this residence?"

"What has he done now?" growled Noelle, ripping the apron from her person and tossing it behind her on a kitchen chair. Tony sighed and made room for Frost and Jane to enter.

The apartment was very small. A navy blue couch was pushed against a wall and a television hung opposite. A very narrow hallway led from the end of the couch and Jane could see two doors. A table was set in the middle of the room, just a few feet away from the stove, fridge and marble countertops. It was certainly not a place that more than two people could live in, comfortably.

Noelle crossed her arms defensively and glowered at Tony. "I _told _you we shouldn't have let him stay here, I told you – "

Tony's eyes shut tight and he held a hand up to his wife's face. "Please, Noelle. Not now." His eyes opened again and he looked at Jane and Frost. "I'm sorry, detectives. It's been a long couple of weeks."

"How do you know Mr. White?"

"We, uh," Tony scratched the back of his ear and shrugged. " – you know, college. We were roommates freshman year. Hadn't seen him in a coupl'a years."

"But you let him stay here?"

"James was a good guy. At least, when I knew him. Saw him a while back with his wife and kids. I didn't even know he had gotten married. He seemed good, then. Real good. Workin', you know. Like the rest of us. Didn't have a lot, but who does now a days? We met up a few times. Knew somethin' was up when DeDe started calling – "

" – DeDe?"

"His wife," he explained. "Delia. He called her DeDe."

"Why did she started calling you?"

"Wanted us to watch the kids. I didn't mind, ya know, the first few times. But it started to get a lil' outta hand. We don't exactly have a palace," he chuckled and looked around the room. "It was hard havin' the two kids around here."

"I thought they had three children?"

"Now they do. The youngest, Carmen, she's about one and a half. Maybe two. This started while DeDe was pregnant with her."

"Did she ever give an explanation for why she needed you to take the kids?"

"In hindsight, it's obviously." Noelle had been in the kitchen stirring something, but she came over and looped her arm through her husband's. "I guess it's always obvious after the fact. James never came over to drop the kids off, it was always Delia. We tried talking to her, seeing if there was anything we could do, but she never wanted to talk. She always said she just needed the kids out of the house. That must've been when James started doing drugs and drinking too much."

"Do you think Mr. White was violent towards his wife or children?"

Tony shook his head firmly. "No, no way. Maybe a little loud, but I never saw any bruises on the kids or Delia. James wasn't like that. We drank in college and he was the goofy drunk, the guy you wanted to be sober to watch. He loves Delia and he loves his kids. That's why he's clean, now. We told him he could stay here as long as he was clean." His face fell. "Unless you're here to tell me otherwise. What's he done now?"

"We're looking at Mr. White as a suspect in the kidnapping of a little girl."

Noelle took in a sharp breath. "That little girl we saw on the news?"

Jane pulled out a photo of Caidence and handed it to the wife. "Does she look familiar?"

"No, no she doesn't, I'm sorry."

"How did James take the separation from his wife? We're of the understanding that after she kicked him out, he had no contact with his children."

"Well, he was upset. But who wouldn't be? He loves his kids, detectives. I swear on my life, that man would never hurt a kid. That's all he talked about in college was gettin' married and having a few kids. He wanted to be a dad more than anything."

"And if being a dad was taken away from him?" asked Jane. "Would he snap?"

"I..." Tony faltered. " – wouldn't he take his own kids?" he asked. "Why take a random little girl? Why not his girls?"

"Mr. Kinlan, if I had an explanation for why kidnappers take the children that they take, my job would be a lot easier." said Jane. "But sometimes people do things and there isn't a reason and, yeah it's unfair, but sometimes the people we think we know best are the people that surprise us the most. We know James White was at the zoo yesterday with his daughters and we have surveillance footage showing a man approximately his height and build taking Caidence. We also have confirmation from his daughters that Caidence was with them. Have you seen Mr. White since yesterday? Has he called here?"

Tony looked at Jane in awe. Her words seemed to have a full effect on him – he shook his progressively paling face and told Jane that he hadn't talked to James for two days. "I wish I knew where he was, though. He has my car."

"He has your car?" inquired Frost.

"Noelle had to drive me to work this morning. I told James he could borrow my car the other night, and he hasn't been back. I just figured..." he shuddered. "You're sure about all this?"

"We're positive." Jane insisted. "Noelle, would you get the license plate number and make and model of the car to my partner while your husband and I talk?" Noelle nodded and she ushered Frost into the kitchen. While she rummaged through drawers, Jane turned back to the shell-shocked man standing beside her and let her hand rest gently on his arm. "I know this is a lot," she whispered. "But if you could answer a few questions – "

"Anything."

"Does James have any aliases that you know of? Any other names he goes by? Places he would go other than here?"

"He doesn't have a lot of friends. I think he burned most of them out. He has a brother, I know that. Only met him a few times. I think his name was Matthew or Mark. He called James Jamie, though. I remember that. His mother lives here in Boston. He told me he was usin' the car to go see her."

"Does the name Aiden Barker sound familiar at all? Maybe James talked about him?"

"The name sounds familiar, but – "

"Isn't that the guy he kept ranting and raving about? The one with the book?" Noelle and Frost came back, Frost with a new piece of paper clutched in his hand and Noelle looking up at her husband. "The one he wouldn't shut up about."

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Tony. He turned back to Jane and Frost. "Yeah, man, that's been getting annoying. He got this book, see. For a while I thought it was just some new fad, you know? Then I find out it's some kid's book. You couldn't go two days without hearin' somethin' about the Barker, guy. Guess he ran a column for some journal in Michigan, talked about his ex and his kid and all that. James bitched about it constantly. He – " his face fell. "What does that have to do with any of this?"

"Aiden Barker is the father of the missing little girl."

"Ah, hell." growled Tony. "He, uh, yeah. I thought he just liked the book because his girls liked it or something, he went just a few days ago to the book signing. I didn't think anything of it. But every morning before he did anything, he would check Barker's column. It was just this little online piece. But all James would talk about for hours after that is how unfair it was that he and his family in Michigan didn't get to see his kid a lot," Tony rubbed his eyes. "Man, I can't believe I didn't notice. Honest to God, detectives, if I would have known he was getting that obsessed with this guy... really, I just thought he could relate to his problems, you know, the custody issues."

"It isn't your fault." Frost insisted. "Right now it's just important that we find him. We're going to put a BOLO out on your vehicle and on James, and – " The door behind them swung open and James waddled in, a garbage bag thrown over his shoulder and a cigarette propped on his lip. Jane and Frost both sprung forward, but James flung the bag towards them both and they both stumbled.

Gathering themselves as quickly as they could, Jane was the first out of the apartment door and down the front steps. James was turning the corner at the next block; kicking her heeled boots off to give herself better speed and balance, Jane took off on foot and took a sharp turn down the alley that James had gone down. He was clambering over a high chain link fence at the end of the alleyway. Jane thrust herself forward and clutched the back of James' cotton tee, lugging him backwards and slamming him up against the red brick wall of the building to their left.

"Whatcha runnin' from, James?" hissed Jane, pushing him harder up against the wall. He grunted in response, licked his lips and gave a few rapid blinks. "Anything in your pockets?"

"Am I under arrest, detective?" he growled back.

"Where's the little girl?" James chuckled. Jane slammed him once more against the brick. Down the alley Jane could hear Frost fast approaching, his footsteps quick and loud. "Tell me, James! Where's the kid? Where's Caidence?" Still, he remained silent, his cold eyes snapping shut. Jane reached behind her, grabbed the handcuffs she had looped on her belt and slapped them on James' wrists. She patted him down, stopping as she felt a lump over his pocket. "What's in your pocket?" she demanded. "Oh well look at that," Jane clutched a small baggy of white powder. "Looks like you're breaking probation. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law..."

* * *

**This was a bit longer than I wanted it to be, but the next chapter will be up tomorrow or Thursday :) Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**This is my favorite chapter for this story, and I hope you all enjoy it.  
**

"Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Ford. I'm sorry we had to pull you away from home." Korsak guided Caitlyn and Charles to his desk, where he already had two chairs pulled up and waiting to be occupied. He waved for them to sit, and they did, but not before taking each other's hands and giving a reassuring squeeze. Charles was the first to speak.

"I don't care where we are, as long as we're doing something to bring Caidence home. Has there been any word?"

"Detective Rizzoli has been working leads with Detective Frost all morning." he paused. "We have a suspect. I was wondering if I could show you a photo, if you could tell me if you've seen the man before?"

Caitlyn nodded. "Of course, anything." Korsak slid the photo across the desk of James White. Both she and Charles stared long and hard at the man, but a light of recognition dawned in neither of their eyes. Caitlyn, entranced by the man's mystery, finally tore her gaze away and looked at Korsak expectantly. "This is the man that took my baby?"

"A surveillance camera shows him taking your daughter's hand and leading her away from her father. You're sure that he isn't familiar? Could he be a friend of a friend, a coworker? Someone who you've might have done business with in the past?"

"Charlie and I are both school teachers. I teach third grade and he teaches seventh. I guess he could be a parent, but neither of us teach in our kid's school district."

"What about your ex? Could he know him?"

Caitlyn frowned. "Aiden doesn't even live here. He travels a lot now, because of his book. He comes into Boston every few weeks to see Cady, but he hasn't lived here full time since we were in college. We moved back to Michigan so he could be near his family."

"Mrs. Ford, we're aware of the custody battle between you and your ex. He's been trying to secure full custody of Caidence."

"Yes." replied Caitlyn sadly.

"Could you tell us a little bit about that?"

"Aiden wants her in Michigan. When I became pregnant, Aiden begged me to move back to his hometown. He wasn't happy here. I was more... _open _to change, my mother and father both lived, well, nomadic lives. We moved around a lot. I agreed and we went to Michigan, but our relationship... it was never strong enough, I think, to be so young and to be parents. After Caidence was born, I just knew I never wanted to marry him. I came back to Boston with her. It wasn't until I married Charlie that Aiden really began fighting for custody. He was in Caidence's life, of course, but I think – "

" – he was bitter at your new marriage?"

"I guess you could put it like that. It hasn't been easy, detective, but Aiden and I make it work. We've tried settling it out of court but Aiden is an all or nothing kind of guy. He doesn't want Caidence growing up in a big city."

"Do you think your husband is capable of taking his own daughter?"

"What?" Caitlyn's mouth dropped open. "No, no! _No. _Aiden is a wonderful father. He plays by the rules. My ex is a lot of things, egocentric, loud... but he is a _good _man. He loves Caidence more than anything else in the world and all he's doing is fighting for what he believes is right for her, and I can't possibly penalize him for that, for loving his daughter. Even if I don't agree with it. Not a day goes by that he doesn't call her or hear her voice."

"We're not saying that he is a bad father, but we do have to consider every possibility. A crime of passion, perhaps. I don't know. But I'm not asking you whether or not you believe Aiden Barker to be a good father. I'm asking you if, if he thought that he was going to lose this custody battle, if he would do absolutely anything to make sure Caidence came home to Michigan with him? Would he do anything? Was this important enough to him?"

Caitlyn sunk back into her chair. "No." she whispered. "The Aiden Barker I know would never take my daughter away from me."

"With all due respect, ma'am." Korsak leaned across the desk. "Isn't that exactly what he's trying to do?"

"Not like this. He wouldn't do it like this!"

"Detective, please." Charles wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "I understand this is necessary questioning, but both my wife and I are sure that Aiden didn't have anything to do with this. She's right. He's a good man."

Korsak nodded shortly and cleared his throat, feeling a little guilty at upsetting Caitlyn so much, but he knew that they needed to proceed. "Have you ever taken Caidence down near the Bay Village area?"

Caitlyn sniffled. "My brother works on Trenton on the weekends, at a pub. Finnigan's. We've taken her a few times. They have a family karaoke night on the first Friday on the month. It's near that area, but she's only been down there a few times and it was with us. Why?"

"James White was living at a residence in Bay Village. It could have been where he saw Caidence. Right now we're looking at all possibilities. You say your brother Ryan works down there?"

"On the weekends, yes. As a cook. Just some pocket change."

"Could Ryan have taken Caidence there?"

"I doubt it," said Charlie. "Ryan's 23, you know. He babysits sometimes, but he usually comes to our place. There have only been a few times I think that Caidence went to his apartment."

"Does he live near there as well?"

"About twenty minutes west, down on Mount Vernon St."

The door swung open and Jane lugged a handcuffed James White into the room. Surprised at seeing Caitlyn and Charles sitting at Korsak's desk, she quickly pushed James back out and thrust him at Frost, telling him to take him into an interrogation room and that she would be there in a moment. Charles, seething, stood from his chair and flew to the door where Jane had just pushed White out of. Jane quickly gripped his shoulders and shoved him back, using all her strength to stop him from busting out the door. Korsak joined her and pushed him easily down into a chair, panting.

"Is that the bastard that took our daughter?" he screamed. "Is that who took Caidence?"

"Please," pleaded Caitlyn. "Did you find her?"

"No." replied Jane gently.

Caitlyn choked back a sob. "But you found him."

"We found him, but that's good. That's good news, I promise. We're going to find her." Charles' phone began to rang and he stuffed his clenched fist into his pocket, pulling out the phone and answering it. Jane could tell he was holding back angry tears. While he spoke, the whole room was silent, everyone seemingly holding their breath. Whoever was on the line with Charles, Charles didn't seem very pleased. He finally hung up and looked apologetically at his wife.

"Brayden just showed up at my mom's. I've got to get over there."

"At your mother's? How did he get there?"

"Walked." replied Charles tersely. "Do you want to come, or – "

"I'd rather stay, if that's alright."

"Of course." he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Detectives, are we through?" Korsak nodded. Caitlyn walked him out and towards the elevators, Korsak following behind them subtly, just to make sure that Charles didn't decide to make a break for the interrogation rooms. Jane turned around and found Maura standing behind her.

"Jesus, Maura. Make a little noise or something."

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

"No, my heart beats this fast normally."

"You should get that checked, then."

"You should learn sarcasm, Maura. It looks like Caitlyn Ford is going to be hanging around here for a little while. Mind taking her down to the café for some coffee while I interrogate James White?"

"Of course. Korsak was just about to call you. We found James on the video again. Caidence was in the back of a wagon. He was with three other little girls. Jane, do you think – "

"No, those are his daughters." Jane leaned over and turned the computer back on, quickly watching the surveillance footage before straightening back up and sighing. She printed out a screenshot of James walking out with the girls and Caidence. Caitlyn finished saying goodbye to Charles and was walking back towards them. She was stopped by Korsak, who, to Jane, looked as though he was apologizing for something. "Hey, before you go." Jane stopped Maura from walking out to meet Caitlyn, grabbing her forearm and tugging her back. She dug through her pockets and pulled out the small bottles that she found in James' coat. She handed the evidence bag to Maura, who looked them over. "Any idea?"

"Judging what we witnessed on the video, I could presume that this is what allowed him to take Caidence from her father before he noticed. One is likely some kind of neuromuscular-blocking drug and the other a sedative, perhaps a benzodiazepine."

"English, Maura?"

"NBD's hinder movement. Had he injected her with the drug, she would have been rendered motionless. Caidence would have been fully aware of her surroundings but unable to move her muscles. It causes paralysis. The drugs are commonly used in patients that need intubation, or to induce relaxation in the muscles for a surgical procedure. Depending on the dosage, she could have had difficulty breathing, if it paralyzed the muscles in her diaphragm."

Jane cringed. If she couldn't breathe then, the likelihood that Caidence was still alive after several hours was very slim. "The other?"

"Probably some form of a sedative. Midazolam or diazepam. She would have slipped unconscious from the dose. That, perhaps, is a good thing, in her case. He could have given either one orally or through an injection. Did you find any needles?"

"No." Jane took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. "No, he just had some drugs on him. Cocaine, it looks like."

"Would you like me to run some tests on these?"

"I'll send them down to toxicology. I'd rather Caitlyn not be alone right now. Go get some coffee. You look like you need it, anyway."

Maura chuckled softly. "I think if either one of us needs coffee, it's you. Stay at my place again tonight? You have to go home and sleep eventually, Jane, and my home is closer than your apartment. I know you didn't sleep well last night. I felt you tossing and turning."

"We'll see." Jane patted Maura's hand and stood. "I'm sorry if I kept you up."

"You didn't. My own head kept me up."

"It's rough."

"It is."

Jane bit her lip. "Thanks for being here, Maura."

"Always."

* * *

Jane roughly shoved the door open and stormed in the room, making a beeline for a startled James White. He had only seconds before Jane grabbed him by the collar, kicking his chair back by the legs and forcing the sweaty, shaking man up onto his feet. He stareed idly back at her, his face drenched in perspiration and his shirt soaked at the back. His dark brown eyes were bloodshot and vacant of any kind of remorse. He smelled thickly of cigarette smoke and mold, causing Jane to pull herself a little further back a little, just to assure herself that she wasn't going to vomit all over him.

"Where's Caidence?"

The man spluttered through a cough, a mocking grin playing at his lips. "She's safe."

Jane gripped his shirt tighter and pushed him firmly against the wall. She could hear Frost scrambling out of his seat to come behind her. Like always, Frost was going to be there if he saw her crossing a line – but Jane had no intention of crossing any lines. She simply wanted to get close enough to break the strung out addict before them, and Jane would do absolutely whatever it took.

"Tell me where she is, White. She's only gonna be safe when she's home with her mom."

"_No._" he hissed vehemently. "_No, no, no." _

"No, what?"

"You're wrong."

"Wrong about what, White?"

"_Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong._"

"Tell me where she is!" yelled Jane.

"_Wrong, wrong, wrong, _can't be with mom! Mom is tryin' to take her away from her dad. It isn't _right. _It isn't _fair. Wrong, wrong, wrong." _His eyes dashed quickly back and forth across the room. Jane could feel the man shaking beneath her stare, but more so out of a drug withdrawal than anything else. She could barely tolerate the thick stench radiating off his body and she moved him quickly to the chair, pushing him down into it and walking around the table to face him from the other side. His foot rapped roughly against the leg of the table and he ran his fingers in a steady rhythm against the wood. Jane shook the table to catch his attention and for a moment she thought she had it, but he turned away once more.

"Fine, then tell me where Caidence is and I'll take her to her father, James." hissed Jane. "He misses her too."

"No, no, _no. _They'll just send her back. They _hate _me. They _hate _me."

"You aren't Caidence's father."

James brought a fist down on the table and for the first time stared directly into Jane's eyes. "I am a father." He pulled away from her again.

"Not Caidence's."

"I am a father." he repeated quietly to himself. "I _am _a father. I am a _good _father. I am a father. I am a father."

Frost leaned over and whispered in Jane's ear. "Is he having a mental breakdown or something?"

"That and a withdrawal." whispered Jane back. Deciding on a different approach, Jane scooted her chair closer to the table and leaned forward, speaking now in a softer voice, less harsh than before. "You're right, James. You're a good father. And you saw that Aiden was a good father, too, didn't you?" James nodded. "You saw that he was going through what you were going through. Aiden didn't see Caidence a lot, did he? And he wrote about it and you read it."

"He wrote a book about her." muttered James, his wild eyes scanning the room again. "He wrote a book about his little girl. He loves her. He loves her a lot. He deserves her. He's a good father. I am a good father. We deserve them."

"Yes, you do." agreed Jane. "You _do _deserve your little girls, James. I see that now. And Aiden deserves his little girl. Have you spoken to Aiden recently? At his book signing?"

"Uh huh," James nodded fervently. "I told 'im, I told 'im that I was goin' through the same thing, I told 'im."

"And did Aiden maybe ask you for help with anything? Help getting Caidence back, maybe?"

"No, no, no, no. You're _wrong. _Aiden never told me anything like that. No, _no. _I just _knew. _I had to help him, 'cause I knew, _I knew _he couldn't do it by himself, see. 'Cause I couldn't get my girls back, but Aiden, I was goin' to help Aiden."

"But Aiden didn't ask for your help?"

"No, _no. _I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to help him. He's a good father. I'm a good father."

"You're a good father, James. And I need you to think of your little girls right now, okay? What if they were in a strange place and they didn't know where they were? They would be scared, right? And right now, I bet Caidence is awfully scared. If you tell me where she is, I can go get her and bring her back to her dad. Just tell me where she is, James. That's all you gotta do."

"No!" James screamed, standing up so quickly that his chair toppled behind him. "You _lying bitch! _You'll send her back with her mother, all 'cause she's a _mom. _HE DESERVES HIS DAUGHTER! HE'S A GOOD FATHER! I'M A GOOD FATHER!" James lunged forward and went to tip the table, but Frost had already come up behind him and latched his arms firmly around James' stomach and arms, pulling the man back and slamming him against the wall and cuffing his hands, James screaming all the while. Eventually his screams died down into a low whimper and he slid down onto the floor, tears falling from his eyes.

* * *

"Take a seat anywhere, I'll get us some coffee."

Maura and Caitlyn slipped into the café relatively unnoticed by any other patrons. It was fairly empty for mid-day at the Boston Police Department, and other than Angela wiping down the counter, only two patrol officers were sitting in a corner nursing cups of coffee and pushing some food around their plates. Angela smiled at Maura as she crossed the café towards her. By the time Maura had reached her, Angela had already poured two cups of coffee and pushed them across the counter.

"On the house." Angela said kindly as Maura gripped the cups.

"No need, I can pay – "

Angela shook her head. "Don't even think about it, Maura. Janie doin' okay?"

"They've arrested James White. She's doing the interrogation right now, but they didn't find the little girl yet. Caitlyn's husband had to go pick up his son, so Jane asked me to bring her down for some coffee. She... well, Jane didn't realize that she and Charles were upstairs, and they caught a glimpse of White. She's still fairly rattled."

"Oh the poor dear." gushed Angela. "I was just gonna make some fresh cookies. If you two are still down here, I'll send 'em over."

"Thank you." Maura smiled warmly and carried the two mugs of coffee back to their table. Caitlyn gave Maura the faintest shadow of a smile and accepted the steaming beverage, taking a slow, satisfying sip. Maura slid on the seat across from Caitlyn and took a drink of her own cup, then they both set them down at the same time.

Caitlyn tapped her fingers against the table. "The coffee here is good." she muttered, a weak attempt at conversation. "I didn't get much sleep last night. I might need another cup after this."

"I imagine it has been very difficult."

"You have no idea." Caitlyn covered the break in her voice with a cough, brought the mug back to her lips and took one more drink. Maura observed her; her eyes had dark, purple lines beneath them, much like Aiden's had been. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun. She was much younger than what Maura had expected. It was the first time she had met the woman, but there was an inexplicable familiarity about her. The way she held the coffee mug, the way she sat. It was all very familiar. "I'm sorry, under normal circumstances, I'm very good with names – "

"Maura." the doctor replied quickly. "Maura Isles. I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for Boston."

Caitlyn tensed. "The medical examiner." she repeated slowly.

Maura stretched her hand across the table and let her fingers still Caitlyn's. "I have no intention on doing any of my routine work on this case," she explained softly. "Detective Rizzoli and I are friends. She asked me to come in, merely as another pair of eyes. She's working her hardest to find Caidence, I promise."

"I believe you. She's been very kind."

"She's the best."

"Maura, yes?"

"Yes."

"My middle name is Maura. I've never met another with my name,"

"Really?" asked Maura, fascinated. "I've never met another Maura, either. It isn't the most common of names. Its origin is Celtic, but some say it derives from Latin, being the feminine form of Maurus, which comes from the greek Mauritius. Naturally I prefer the Celtic meaning of _great, _rather than the Latin meaning of _dark-skinned, _as I am not dark-skinned."

"But you consider yourself great." Caitlyn smiled.

"That sounds far more pompous than I intended." They both laughed. "I don't put much stock into name meanings, but it's... _comforting _to believe that a name can have an effect on an individual."

"And what does Caitlyn mean?"

"Pure." replied Maura promptly. "It's the Gaelic version of Catherine."

"You're a wealth of knowledge." said Caitlyn, clearly impressed, "Caidence would like you very much. She wants to know everything."

"A thirst for knowledge is a beautiful gift."

"She's _my _beautiful gift." Caitlyn shuddered a bit, swallowing back her sob and swiping at the few tears that had managed to fall. "Oh, I'm so _sick _of crying." she laughed sadly, more as a way of covering her crackling voice. "I feel like I should be doing something. Going out there, calling her name, _screaming _her name. And I'm just _sitting _here, crying to a stranger."

"The detectives are doing absolutely everything they can, Caitlyn. We have James here, they're interrogating him now. Jane _will _break him."

"But what if it's too late? What if she's – " she paused to compose herself. "I just don't know how my mother did it."

"Did what?"

Caitlyn took a deep breath. "She lost a child. Before I was born, that is. Many years before. She lost a baby, and I just keep thinking... _God, _how did she do it? How did she survive knowing that her child didn't? How could she – how did she – I mean, when Caidence was born, I looked down at her and I knew that there was no love greater than what a parent feels for a child. Nothing I had felt _ever _before... I knew this baby was my everything. And now she's gone, and she might never come back, and I can feel myself dying inside with her. I feel just as lost and..."

" – it makes you feel guilty."

"Yes." She let out a shaky breath. "Guilty that I can't be strong for her. Guilty that I feel so weak and helpless. My mother has always been my role model for strength and for wisdom and for, for _everything, _and here I am and I don't know how to be _her. _I don't know how to be brave and strong for Caidence, in the same way my mother was for her baby. How do you do it? How do you just continue living when your child can't?" She pressed her face in her hands, and in a muffled voice continued. "And the worst part is, one of the only things that I can really think is, _I want my mom. _I want _my _mom. God, I'm twenty-seven years old and my daughter is missing and I'm crying for my mommy."

"You're scared. It's okay, Caitlyn. It's fine to be scared and to want the comfort of someone familiar." Maura pulled a tissue from her bag and handed it to Caitlyn.

"She'll be here soon." Caitlyn played lazily with the kleenex. "She said her flight would be in today. I just need someone to tell me what to do, Maura. Does that make sense? I mean, the detectives are working to find her and I don't know what my job is, because my job is taking care of Caidence and I can't right now. Kennedy is with my brother and Brayden... well, my step-son is..."

"A handful."

"Understatement of the year." She and Maura shared a small smile.

"You don't have to compare yourself with your mother." whispered Maura. "You can be strong in your own way. Your mother _lost _a child, but you haven't lost Caidence. Not yet, and I hope that you won't."

"You're very kind to sit here and listen to my blubbering."

"Like you, I'm just waiting for someone to tell me what to do." Maura fumbled with her purse and pulled out one of her business cards that she kept in her wallet. "If you need to talk."

Caitlyn accepted it and stared at it for a moment, her thumb running over the silver print of Maura's name. "You know I was named after her."

"After whom?"

"My mother's daughter." Caitlyn looked back up at Maura. "Caitlyn Maura. She had named her daughter Maura. I suppose she thought that the baby could live on in me." Maura's heart dropped. She stared vacantly at Caitlyn, the surprise of her announcement settling uneasily in the pit of her stomach. "I never minded, you know. Some people always think that's so... _tragic, _or cruel, to give your child a name of a child who had died. But I actually consider it quite the honor, if that makes sense. It always made me feel safe, that my mother could love a child that she had never really grown to know. It made me realize just how much my mother loved _me._"

Maura's head was reeling – it _couldn't _be, it absolutely _couldn't be the same person. _The chances of it were astronomical, and besides, Maura had only one half brother and he laid dead on her table almost a year ago. And Patrick certainly had not maintained a relationship with the woman who gave birth to Maura, he had made that perfectly clear. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest and Maura found it harder and harder to maintain even breaths. Caitlyn tapped her hand and asked if she was alright, and Maura nodded (or she thought she nodded, she couldn't be sure) and the room, which for some time had begun spinning at an incredible nauseating pace, stopped spinning and everything came back into focus.

"I – I'm sorry." stuttered Maura, looking up at Caitlyn but avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry, I got a little nauseous. I'm fine, really. I... you said your mother was coming into town? You never did mention her name. Names are... fascinating to me." she faltered a bit, embarrassed by her own pathetic reason, but Caitlyn didn't seem put off by it or startled, and Maura didn't exactly lie – she truly was fascinated by Caitlyn's mother's name.

"Hope. Hope Morse. Or, well, Martin. Morse was my father's last name. Professionally she kept her maiden name. She's a doctor."

"Hope." Maura muttered, the nausea creeping back up. "Your mother's name is Hope."

"Yes, why?"

"Caitlyn!" The voice startled them both. Maura twisted in her seat in time for Caitlyn to stand from hers, rushing over to the open arms of a woman that looked a great deal like Maura herself. Her hair was the same honey-blonde that Maura had grown up with her whole life, her eyes a mixture of blue and green, and Maura noticed that Caitlyn shared the color as well. Even their skin had the same sun-kissed, natural glow. The two women were talking in rushed voices, talking about Caidence and the case, and faintly Maura heard the woman who looked so much like herself say something about how she had checked Caitlyn's home first and then came straight to the precinct.

But soon Maura stopped paying attention to the conversation. She stared only at Hope Martin, the woman with her eyes, the woman with her cheekbones. And Maura knew that, without a doubt, the woman who stood just feet away from her was surely the only woman on the planet that felt, with absolute certainty, that Maura was nothing but a ghost.

* * *

**Just a quick author's note:**

**So, as I said in the first chapter, I am taking liberties with season three and taking what I like and incorporating it into this story and tweaking it in my own way. Welcome to my version of Hope :)  
**

**The next chapter will be up in anywhere from four-five days. All of the work I did on chapters 7 - (i think) 12 has vanished from my computer and I have to start from scratch. I'll get it to you ASAP.  
**

**I would love some feedback on this chapter, as this is really the turning point in the story. I've been eagerly waiting to post this chapter for some time now. It's actually the first chapter I wrote for this story. I hope you enjoyed it!  
**

**Have a fantastic day.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

Jane came barreling back to her desk with Frost at her heel. Both Frankie and Korsak looked up to them when she and Frost entered, but neither spoke; they saw the dangerous look in Jane's eyes, the look that they had seen only a handful of times before – Jane hadn't broken James White, which meant they still had no idea where Caidence was.

Taking a moment to compose herself at her desk, Jane rubbed her aching temples and closed her eyes. She visualized Caidence, alone someplace, afraid that James would come back and also afraid that he wouldn't, that she would stay there forever and die alone. Jane's heart constricted at the thought. She was certain of one thing. Caidence Barker-Morse was alive, but for how long, Jane wasn't sure. She had gotten the unsettling feeling from James' hysteria that he wouldn't knowingly hurt her, but that certainly didn't mean she wasn't hurt.

"Frost, pull up that journal White was talking about. How come we didn't know about it?"

Frost was already at his computer and booting it back up. He shrugged. "He did say he worked for a paper in Michigan," replied Frost. "We didn't ask what type of column he ran, though. Hang on. I'll pull it up."

"Frankie, what are you doin' here?" Jane asked.

"Just wanted to see if there was anything I could do." He shrugged, but Jane saw the hesitation. The brother and sister stared at each other until Frankie could no longer take it, and Jane smiled triumphantly when he caved. "Pops called Ma this morning. He's coming in to talk to her. She told him she didn't want to see him, but he said it was important."

"So you're hiding up here, why?"

"Because Ma wants _me _to talk to him."

Jane snorted. "Of course she does. Well? Are you going to?"

"Would _you?_"

"I don't want to see him." responded Jane stiffly, turning away from her brother and standing behind Frost.

"Well neither do I! And neither does Ma, for that matter. What d'you think he wants?"

"To be honest, Frankie, I really don't care. Our father left a long time ago. Whoever is coming back isn't him." She dug her hands into her pockets and stared at Frost's computer screen. Frankie was still standing near her desk, looking as though he wanted to say more but not knowing what words to choose. Frost tapped the mouse a few more times and finally the online newspaper that Aiden Barker worked at popped up.

"He ran a blog." said Frost quietly, squinting at the screen to read. "It looks like a blog for single dads."

"Was it popular?"

"Looks like the traffic increased around the time Aiden's book was published." A graph popped up on Frost's screen and they all looked. "Whew, yeah. Once Aiden became a household name for parents with kids, his blog went _way _up. He went from 1,000 hits a month to over 400,000."

"That's a lot, right?"

"That's huge for a small town blogger from Michigan. Looks like Aiden wasn't just getting paid from his book deal. This site is crawling with ads. He probably made a good fortune off of this alone."

"So he's mooching off his kid in more ways than one." grumbled Jane. "A book, a blog. Doesn't anyone keep anything private anymore?"

"It looks like most of this is just talking about what it's like to be a single dad with a kid, but not have primary custody. Talks about the courts, talks about missing Caidence," he scrolled down the page a little more. "Nothing too personal. It's just enough to make a connection with an audience without giving too much away."

Jane chewed on her lip as she thought. It no longer seemed like Aiden had anything to do with his daughter's abduction, or at least not consciously. "Any pictures of Caidence on the site?"

"A few of him and her."

"So James White is introduced to the books, probably by his daughters. Reads up on the author, finds Aiden's blog. Realizes how much they have in common. At the same time, James White gets kicked out of his house and is barred from seeing his kids. Everything we've heard about this guy suggests that he was a good dad before he got hooked on the drugs, right? He can't see his kids, he has little chance in getting them back in court on drugs or without drugs, he's bitter and high and so he takes Caidence."

"But why?"

"Something to control. He can't control his situation. He's hooked on the drugs, he can't stop himself. He can't see his kids without giving up the drugs, but he doesn't know how. He's losing everything around him." Jane wagged her finger over at their evidence board, where Aiden Barker's picture was hanging next to Caidence's. "But this guy, he has a chance. James sees him as the complete opposite of himself, and it makes him feel more hopeless. If Aiden can't even get his kid back, this guy who clearly has so much love for his daughter... James knows he'll never see his kids again."

Frost nodded to himself. "So he takes Caidence."

"To feel some level of control in his life. He takes her because he sees hope in Aiden's life where he sees none in his own." Jane looked at Frost and Korsak. They're both deep in thought, but she can see that they agree with her. "We gotta find this kid."

Frowning grimly, Korsak asked: "You think she's still alive?"

"Absolutely. James wouldn't have killed her. All he wants is for her to be with her dad. That's what he wants, almost more than anything, next to him being back in his kids' lives. Frost, you saw him in that interrogation room. He was cracked. Killing Caidence would destroy the illusion of him having some control over an uncontrollable situation. She's alive." Jane stared at the picture of Caidence hanging on their board. "She's alive, and we just gotta find her."

"So where do we start?" questioned Frost.

"I'm going to bring the parents up to speed." she replied promptly. "Frost, you take Frankie and go down to Bay Village. I didn't see a car when I arrested White, so he had to of walked from where he was coming from. See if there are any security cameras on the apartment complexes down there. Go a mile each way. Once we know the direction he came from, we can go from there. Korsak, get White's wife on the phone and bring her in. Maybe she can get her ex to give us the location. It's worth a shot. Hey – " Jane looked around the room. "Is Maura back with Caitlyn Ford yet?"

Korsak's mouth opened to answer but it snapped right back shut when the door slammed open. An energized Maura flooded into the room, headed straight for Jane. The door slamming startled Jane and caused her to jump; she turned and faced Maura just in time for Maura to reach her, and Maura stared – almost pleadingly, but with more anger – into Jane's eyes.

"Did you know?" she hissed.

"Uh," Jane looked over to Korsak, Frost and Frankie for help, but the all shrugged. "I'm going to go with _no, _since I have no idea what you're talking about. What's wrong?" Jane examined Maura. Her whole body was shaking, right down to her feet. An angry red colored her cheeks and her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, were closed. Maura took a deep breath and opened them again, this time avoiding eye contact with Jane and instead looking down at the ground. She seemed to be struggling with her words, something that Jane had only seen a handful of times with her friend.

With a gentle grip, Jane guided Maura by her hands into an empty meeting room, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Maura leaned up against the conference table, hugging herself protectively, her eyes still down towards the floor.

"Hey," whispered Jane softly. "What's going on?"

"Did you know that Caitlyn Ford is my sister?" she rasped.

Jane gaped. "Maura," There was nothing funny about Maura's words, but Jane let out a chuckle in disbelief. " – that's impossible."

"No, no, it's not. Caitlyn Ford is my sister. Half-sister, I presume. Which makes Caidence my niece."

"How did you even come up with that? That's – "

"Jane, you taught me not to believe in coincidences. I know I'm right."

"And you taught me that there is no such thing as a gut feeling, Maura. You're juping to conclusions. Why do you think – "

"Her middle name is Maura."

"That doesn't mean – "

"Her middle name is Maura and she was named after a child her mother gave birth to and that passed away, Jane. When her mother was a teen. And her mother... her mother's name is _Hope. _And I saw her. I – " she stumbled over her words. " – she has my eyes, Jane. Hope _and _Caitlyn. Caitlyn is my sister. Caidence is my neice. Hope is my mother." Maura gave Jane an exhausted look, and Jane stared abashedly back at her friend, shock and awe casting itself down her body.

"That's why Caitlyn looked so familiar." Jane stepped closer to Maura and let her finger hook itself beneath Maura's chin, tilting the woman's head up so she could get a closer look at her friend's eyes. She pulled away a second later, a little embarrassed by her forwardness.

"What?"

"Her eyes looked familiar." Jane explained lamely.

Maura tilted her head in curiosity. "You recognized my eyes?"

Jane froze. Was that a normal friend thing to do? "They're unique." she said stiffly. "She was really upset, you know. And I've seen that look before. In you." Maura stared at Jane. Feeling self-conscious, Jane turned away, rubbing her arms with her hands to rid herself of the goosebumps that always sprung up every time Maura looked at her with such scrutiny. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive."

"What are you going to do?"

Maura threw her hands up in the air. "I can't tell them! Not now. Not _ever, _Jane! I made that decision weeks ago, that I wasn't going to find her, that I was happy with my life and I didn't need to know. But now that I know..." she groaned. "Now that I've seen her. It makes it so much more real. She's real. She's..." A tear slipped down Maura's cheek. "She's my mother."

"Hey, hey," Jane pulled Maura into a hug. "If you don't want to tell her right now, you don't have to. But," she pulled back and tucked a strand of Maura's hair behind her ear. " – if you decide to tell Hope and Caitlyn, I'll be here. You have every right to want to know them."

"It would be so cruel." whispered Maura.

"You did nothing wrong." Jane insisted. "Paddy Doyle is the one who did all of this. Look, I have to go talk to Caitlyn and Aiden about James White, bring them up to speed. Why don't you go down and get my mother and go out to lunch or an early dinner. Frankie said Pops is stopping by today, so chances are, Ma wants out of here anyway. Come back here later tonight, okay? Don't go home to an empty house."

Maura dabbed at her eyes. "I'm fine." she said shakily. "I'll go see if your mother wants to go out," And with not a single glance at Jane, Maura exited the room.

* * *

Matthew White was everything and nothing like his brother. While they each stood tall and thin, Matthew's face was clean and smooth. The faintest trace of sandy blonde hair could be seen atop his shaven head. Like James, his shoulders were broad and his arms long and lanky, but Matthew's muscles were more defined. He had no limp to his step, no shaky limbs or beady, anxious eyes. His sharp features were offset by the nearly ever present smile that could be found on his face. But as the older White boy walked down the hallway towards his brother's holding cell, his smile had vanished. In his hand was clasped another; the hand of his mother, Theresa.

Her face showed her struggles – the years she spent raising two boys, being a wife, being a home keeper, a cook, a maid. She had not aged well. At only fifty-seven, Theresa White looked like a woman ten years her senior. Her hair had long gone grey. It was short and curly, just above her ears. Side by side with her son, she looked even smaller than she really was. Her arms were so thin that the officer escorting them to James' cell was sure she could easily snap herself in half. She wobbled as she walked and leaned against her son.

"He's a good boy," she said to the officer, her voice shaking lightly. "He's struggled, but I know his heart is pure."

The officer said nothing.

A few steps more, Matthew and Theresa stood in front of James' holding cell. It wasn't very big. There was enough room for maybe two people to stand, but most of the space was taken up by a long cot against the left side. Next to it, near the head of the bed, was a toilet and then just a few inches over, but on the right side, was a small writing table with a stool, both attached to the wall. The walls were painted a putrid green half way up, until it turned to a murky, off-white, that surely had been white in its time but had gotten dingier over the years.

James didn't seem aware of them standing just outside his reach. He was huddled on the bed, his back pressed to the corner, with his knees pulled up to his chest. Theresa stepped forward and clenched a bar of his cell, shaking it a bit to try and get his attention.

"You've got five minutes." said the officer, stepping off to the side, but not out of hearing range.

"What have you done?" Theresa asked in a shaky voice. James looked up; he squinted at the bars, as if he can't quite make out who is standing just outside of them, and finally he stood, dusting himself off and stumbling over. His face was covered in a shiny sweat and his body trembled. Licking his cracked lips, he leaned his head against the bars.

"I screwed up, Mama." he said hoarsely.

Theresa slipped a hand through the bars to touch a lock of James' hair; it was unwashed and slick with grease. Her finger trailed down her baby boy's face, down to his chin, and she lifted it so they were eye level. One tear fell down his cheek, and then two, and soon they came in waves. He knocked his forehead against the iron of the bars. Theresa stepped away, a gut wrenching sob threatening to tear through her throat. She stared helplessly at her child, at the little boy who had once brought so much joy into her life.

She turned away, unable to bare looking at her son any longer. Matt came forward and slinked a hand through the bars, grabbing on to the color of his brother's shirt and slamming him into the iron bars. James' barely struggled.

"Why?" he hissed. "Huh? Why'd you take that little girl?"

Theresa turned back around at the sound, letting out a surprised gasp when she looked at her two sons. She yelled at Matt to let him go and, on his mother's command, he did; James crumpled to the ground. The officer came back over and looked at them all expectantly, his hand resting on the top of his gun.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Matt sniffled and stepped away from the bars. "Nothin', sorry."

The officer eyed him. "Three minutes."

"I just want my kids," cried James from the floor.

"Think of Delia," whispered Theresa. "Think of your wife, think of your kids. Tell the police where the little girl is. Please." But James stayed silent. Theresa looked hopelessly up at Matt. She turned and walked down the hall a little bit, leaving Matt alone with his brother. Matt stared down at James.

"Get up." he demanded. "_Get up._"

James complied, but he directed his eyes downward. He hobbled to the bars again and began to ramble.

"Caidence is smart," he spoke quietly, but quickly. "Smart like my Ali. Real quick-witted, too. And, and you know the pouty lip that Carmen does? Caidence does it too, Matty. Tall like Adi. Real tall for her age." he paused. "I want to see my kids," whined James. "I want to see 'em, Matt. Can you bring them here? Can I have them? Can I see them, please?"

"Get it together," Matt said quietly. "C'mon, man. This isn't you. Where's my little brother? Jamie... please. Tell me where the little girl is." A tear slipped down his cheek. Matt leaned against the bars, pressing his head against the same bar as James. They stood and cried together. Matt reached into the cell and gripped his brother's forearm. "You screwed up, man. You screwed up bad. The only way you can help yourself is to tell me where Caidence is, okay? Do it for the girls."

"I can't," cried James.

"You _can._" insisted Matt. "Think of what dad would say, man. This would kill him to see you like this. C'mon, Jamie. Just tell me."

"You gotta promise me somethin',"

"What?"

"You have to take Caidence to her dad, Matt. To her dad, okay? Her dad loves her. Her dad wants her. Her dad deserves her."

"I promise." said Matt. "I promise I'll take her to her dad. Just tell me."

A few seconds pause, and then: "I used your name."

* * *

Jane threaded her fingers through her hair, sighed, and stepped out of her car. The light on Maura's porch was on but all the lights in the guest house were off, giving Jane reasonable suspicious that her mother was inside. The afternoon had waned on with no tips, no leads, and no Maura. One text had come to Jane's phone in the early evening from Angela, saying that she and Maura were back at the house and that they would see Jane for dinner, but Jane didn't make it home for any kind of dinner. She stayed at the precinct, eyes glued to the computer, until Korsak had ushered her out the door.

James still wasn't talking, and Delia couldn't be reached.

Fumbling through her keys, Jane unlocked Maura's front door and stepped inside, relieved that Maura had given her the key months ago. She kicked off her shoes and tossed her unworn jacket towards the coat rack, not taking much care to make sure it had actually reached a hook. The smell of cleaning solvent drove her towards the living room where Jane found Maura asleep on the couch.

She looked peaceful. Her leg were tucked beneath a blanket and she hugged a pillow to her chest. Honey colored hair fell like a veil over Maura's eyes and Jane walked over, gently taking the strands, smooth like silk between Jane's fingers, and tucked them behind her ear. It must have tickled Maura's face, because her face scrunched up and her nose wiggled, but she didn't wake. She only hugged the pillow closer to her.

"The poor thing," said a voice from behind. Jane jumped and twirled around and came face to face with her mother. She scowled and pushed past her. "Did I startle you?"

"No that was just the start of my nightly jumping jacks." growled Jane. She passively wondered how long her mother had been standing behind her, watching her. Watching her watch Maura. The door to the fridge opened with a soft _pop _and Jane grabbed a beer from the bottom shelf, uncapping it with ease and taking a long drink. She couldn't think about that. Angela came to meet her at the island counter.

"I've never seen her like this," she tilted her heads towards Maura.

"How was she today?"

"She cried. Barely ate dinner," Angela sighed. "What do you think she's gonna do?"

"I don't know. I understand why Maura is afraid to tell them, especially with the investigation right now, but I know how much Maura has always wanted to know her birth mom. No matter what she says, she's... she wants to know. I know it."

"What about Constance? What do you think she would say to all this?"

Jane's face fell and she leaned up against the counter. "I wouldn't know. Despite Constance's speech about wanting to get closer with Maura again, she's mysteriously fallen off the face of the planet. Hasn't called Maura since she got out of the hospital. Bitch."

"Jane!"

"Well, what, Ma? She ain't no angel."

"No but she's your friend's mother and she deserves respect."

"Yeah I'll respect her when she respects Maura."

"Jane..."

"No, Ma! Christ, that's her daughter and she can't even be bothered to call? I mean, no wonder Maura didn't want to find Hope. She's probably terrified of the disappointment. And now she has no choice. She's going to be hurt whichever way she turns. She could go and tell Hope who she is and possibly be _shunned, _or told to get lost, or just... _not wanted, _again, or she can keep it to herself and suffer the cost of not knowing."

"It's not fair."

"No, it's not fair. Maura deserves so much more." Jane took another slow sip of her beer and then set the bottle down. "She deserves – "

" – she deserves to feel loved by at least one of her mothers," Angela finished for Jane.

"Well, she has the love of one mother." replied Jane. "She's got you."

Angela smiles. "It's not the same."

"You're right, it's not. But it's better. You chose to love Maura. Not because you raised her, not because you gave birth to her. You just love her." Jane let herself look over at Maura again. There was a certain childlike innocence to the way Maura laid, and it made Jane smile. "You can go back to the guest house if you want. It's late. I'll stay with Maura. I've got some work to do anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go." Jane waves her towards the door. "Korsak kicked me out of the office but that doesn't mean I can't work on stuff here."

"You should sleep."

"I will."

"And you should eat something."

"I _will, _Ma."

Angela frowned. "Okay." she gave Jane a hug and went to leave out the back door, but she paused and turned back around, hanging quietly in the doorway still, her eyes focused on her daughter who had turned to grab a slice of cold pizza from the fridge. "Janie?" she says quietly. "You think we could talk about something for a minute or two?"

Jane turns back around, a slice of cold pizza dangling from her mouth. She tears off a bite and sets the pizza back down. "If this has to do with Pops," she began. "I know he came into the station today, and I can't help you with him, Ma – "

The older Rizzoli held up a hand. "It's nothin' to do with _your _father."

"Then what?" She seemed to hesitate; it was in the way that Angela was holding herself, as if she was nervous, as if stepping inside any further, any closer to Jane, could cause devastation. The longer Jane stared at her mother, the more nervous she got, and the longer Angela remained silent, the louder Jane's stomach growled. "Well spit it out!"

"Are you gay?" squealed Angela. Jane's mouth fell. Of all the things she expected to come out of her mother's mouth – digs at her wardrobe, nagging about her job, complaining about Frankie – the question '_are you gay' _was never even on the list. Jane blinked a few times. She briefly wondered if it was a dream, if she was not standing in Maura's kitchen, if she was really asleep at her desk at work, but the longer she stood there the more obvious it became that she was very, very awake.

She swallowed hard. "Pardon?"

"Are you a lesbian?"

"Ma," said Jane slowly. "You cannot just ask people if they are gay."

"Janie, I'd be okay with it. I've been doin' a lot of research about having gay children and, you know, I know the Catholic Church isn't big on it, but in _my _opinion, love really has no bounds. And there's a group, it's called PFLAG – "

"Oh my God."

"If you're gay, you shouldn't take God's name in vain, too. There's gotta be some balance."

"_Ma! _I am _not – "_

"Well what do you expect a mother to think?!" shrieked Angela. Behind them on the couch, Maura stirred. Panicked, Jane and Angela looked over to her, but Maura didn't fully come out of her sleep, so the two took their discussion out on the patio. Jane gently closed the door behind them before turning on her mother, her arms protectively hugging her middle and her eyes narrowed. "You don't have a husband!"

"Lots of people don't have husbands."

"Not pretty Italian girls like you."

"Did you miss the men in my life? Dean? Casey? They were male, I have first hand knowledge of the fact."

"And they were wonderful me, Jane. Well, Casey. Casey's a handsome man. Dean – "

"What about Dean?"

"You could do better." Angela shrugged.

"That is so _rude!_"

"I'm just givin' you my opinion!"

"I don't want your opinion!"

"I'm your mother, you don't get a choice in the matter!"

Jane threw her hands up in the air and growled in frustration. "I'm not _gay, _mother. Why would you even think that?"

"Because of Maura."

"Because of – " Jane gaped. "Okay, that's it. Tomorrow Frankie and I are putting you in a home, because you _clearly _have lost your mind."

"You are in love with that girl! I can see it in your eyes!"

"I – you – she – no."

"Maura is the first person I have ever seen you be yourself around. No wall, nothin'. You go to her when you're upset, you'd protect her with your life. Jane, she's a part of you. You gave her your heart already and you don't even realize it."

"She's my best friend!"

"No," Angela said softly, shaking her head. "I mean, yeah, she's your best friend. But she's so much more than that. You mean to tell me you never thought about it? About her? That girl in there would die for you just like you would die for her. And hell, both of ya almost already have. I seen the way you two look at each other. When you look at her, it's like she's the first person you've ever seen. I'm not tellin' what to do, I'm just tellin' ya to think about it."

Jane sat down on the porch swing and tucked her legs beneath her. Had she not covered her tracks well enough? Had she really been that transparent that even her mother saw through her? Though Angela kept saying the word love. Did she _love _Maura? It seemed to heavy of a word. Jane had always been attracted to her friend, but love? Jane wasn't even sure if she _could _love someone. She had fought for months to keep her growing feelings buried, and here they were being forcibly extracted.

"I don't know." said Jane quietly.

"You don't know what?"

"What I am." And there it was. All of what Jane was afraid of admitting for months and months and maybe even years – that Jane, the hardened and put together Boston detective, a woman who had succeeded in her profession where others hadn't, who always seemed to have everything in her life figured out – was terrified of _herself. _Of who she was, of what she was. Of not being what everyone else expected her to be.

The years of Angela nagging her to get a boyfriend, to get a husband, to get married and have kids – all of those disappointments crashed against Jane and she buried her face into her hands. She wasn't the daughter her mother wanted. She wasn't the person she wanted to be. She was somewhere stuck in a middle grown, torn between wanting to accept her feelings and embrace who she was, even if she didn't know _who _that was, and running back and hiding beneath her covers.

Angela sighed and took a seat next to her daughter, wrapping her arm around Jane's shoulders. "In my motherly _opinion,_" she said, stroking Jane's hair. "Love doesn't need a label. It is what it is."

"How long have you wondered?"

"A while now," admitted Angela. "But when you and Casey didn't work out, I knew. If that man couldn't take your heart, I knew someone already had."

"Well it doesn't help that Casey's off in a desert half way across the world." Jane snorted.

"Well, _then. _But when I saw that he was home and realized you two hadn't started whatever it was back up again – "

"What?"

"Hm?"

"What do you mean you saw that he was home? You mean, the first time? Before he left again?"

"No, I saw him just the other day. I..." Angela's face fell. "You didn't know."

Shocked, Jane shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "I didn't."

"I thought you knew, Jane. Maura and I saw him – "

"Maura knew?"

Angela remained silent.

"Ma, Maura knew Casey was back? And she didn't tell me?"

"Well the case, Jane..."

"Yes or no. Did Maura know?"

"Yes."

–

**Happy Tuesgay! Minus the gay since there's no Rizzoli and Isles :( Booooo. Have a good night everyone!**


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